


Stay With Me

by ashleywritesthings



Category: Harry Styles - Fandom, Larry Stylinson - Fandom, Louis Tomlinson - Fandom, One Direction, ziam - Fandom
Genre: Angry Sex, Bottom Harry, Bottom Louis, Cheating, Clubbing, Control, Daddy Kink, Dominance, Drunk Harry, Drunk Louis, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Larry Stylinson Is Real, Love, M/M, Minor Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles, Plot Twist, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Sex, Smut, Smutty, Sneaking Around, Spanking, Subspace, Top Harry, Top Louis, one direction - Freeform, ziam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-04 00:55:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 83,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2903390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashleywritesthings/pseuds/ashleywritesthings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my first chaptered work and I finally have a solid idea of the direction it's going to go.  I am very excited about this and I'm also working with my beta; Celia on it. </p><p>Since I've had 2 people comment/ask about it Louis is a top, but there are 2-3 circumstances where he bottoms and that's it; and if you read the chapters you'll understand why I decided to switch it up in those moments. :)</p><p>Thanks for reading; I'm really happy with where this is going!  I am also thankful to you all for reading it and giving me a chance.</p><p>There are a few mentions of subspace with a dom/daddy kink play too!  Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You & I

"Always in my heart @Harry_Styles . Yours sincerely, Louis"

With a click of the mouse the tweet was sent and he could finally exhale the breath he'd been keeping in for too long. Louis had no say in what he posted, had it been his own choice he would have simply attached the photo of him kissing Harry on their balcony the night before, if it were up to him, the whole world would know he loved Harry Styles, but none of it was, it hadn't ever been. He sat in silence for a moment, anticipating the surge of alerts being sent to his phone, as they began to come in he turned his mobile off, grabbed his cup of tea, and walked to bed...it was early, but all he wanted was to get some rest.

He laid in bed and looked up at the ceiling, if walls could talk these could tell a million stories, stories that held laughter and tears, smiles and pouty lips, kisses and moans, whispered promises of what their lives would be like, stories that began with we should have, and if only...but more than that, they would speak of love. Louis Tomlinson was head over heels in love with Harry Styles, but in less than 24 hours, everything was going to change.

Management had been worried about their image for months now, were Harry and Lou too close in public, did they get on well or was it obvious that more was going on between them? One Direction wasn't just a band, it was a movement, would girls still react the same way knowing two of the poster boys were gay, and in love with each other? Would their concerts still sell out, would their albums top the charts, would their success fluctuate because of the secret relationship? These were all questions Modest had asked themselves, and decided it wasn't worth the risk, someone had to be brought in to break them up, and who better than the girl looking for her 15 minutes of fame? Lou and Harry met Eleanor a week before the plan was put into place, but members of management knew her long before that, they'd been scouting prospects for months and decided they'd found the perfect fit in her; she stood a little smaller than Louis, had long brown hair with dark eyes, someone that looked like she fit with him, not like Harry they convinced themselves, although the rest of the world disagreed. 

Harry stormed out of the room after the contract hit the table and allowed himself to cry once the door slammed behind him, he made it to the bathroom before he got sick, but it didnt stop then, with every moment that passed the surges in his stomach hit him harder, he threw up on the floor and against the wall, his face wet with tears as he heard the bathroom door open. "Babe...Harry...is that...you?" the sweet voice asked him, he pushed the door to the stall open and allowed Louis to walk inside, "Oh bloody hell, Harry, let me clean you up, let's get out of here." Louis walked Harry to the sink and took the paper towels to his soft face, gracing it smoothly as he tried to clean him up, he pushed the hair out of Harry's eyes as he tried to compose himself, knowing he'd caused this kind of reaction in him just talking about what was coming, made his skin crawl, how much worse would it get when he actually had to act on it? He shook the thoughts out of his head, put his hand around the taller boy's waist and managed to support both of their weight down the hall and to their car. Eleanor was leaving at the same time they were and with nothing more than a smile and shrug of her shoulders, she breezed by them with a check in hand, Lou felt it happening to himself too, the vomit, but he swallowed hard and knew he had to stay strong for Harry. He had to be the one who kept it together.

Harry fell asleep on the way to their home and Lou kept stroking his hair, occasionally bringing his fingers to trace the shape of his jawline or graze against his cheekbones. He placed little kisses upon his head and whispered I love you's into his ears. He wanted to make Harry feel safe again, whole again, he wanted to protect him from what was going to happen, but he knew that he couldn't stop it...he was going to find a way to let him know how much he loved him, how important he was, how there would never be anyone who touched his heart, even if she had to touch his hands.

They arrived at their home and the driver smiled back at Louis, "This can't last for long, you know? They'll see how miserable you both become and they'll stop, they'll turn this whole thing around, no one could stand to see you this broken for long." Lou smiled at the sweet words of the man and wished so much that they were true, all while knowing they weren't. He nodded his head as he gently woke Harry, "Sweetheart, you've gotta stand up, I can carry your weight to the door, but not unless you give me a bit of help." With that Harry kept his eyes closed but adjusted his body so Lou could get a good grip and fell into the embrace, Lou felt a tear fall onto his collar bone and sped up to get them inside, he needed to kiss Harry until all the pain went away.

Lou wanted that night to be something they forgot, he'd purchased their favorite drinks, a few funny movies, and a special "surprise"for Harry to use, but he knew in that moment none of his extras were going to heal this kind of hurt, this kind of hurt was going to take time, love, and compassion. He laid Harry on the sofa, began to brew his favorite type of tea, and ran a warm bath with vanilla salt and rose petals inside. Once everything was ready Harry let Lou assist him to the bathroom, where Lou took his time removing Harry's shirt, kissing his neck before he moved to unbutton his joggers and remove his pants beneath, he helped lift Harry inside and sat down outside the tub, watching the warmth embrace Harry as he fell into the tub with a sigh, like the worry in his body had space to expand and hopefully fall out. Harry opened his eyes a few moments later and invited Lou inside. Lou removed his own shirt, joggers and pants and asked Harry to lean forward as he sunk in behind him, Harry was sitting between his legs with his body leaned up against the shorter boy, he sunk down enough to nuzzle his head into Lou's neck while Lou listed off all the things he loved about Harry, before he knew it the water was growing cold and he hadn't finished talking. Lou got out of the tub and wrapped himself in a towel, grabbed a soft one for Harry and placed it around his body, they walked into their bedroom where candles were already lit, filling the room with a sweet, relaxing aroma, and placed Harry beneath the covers. He laid in bed next to him and placed kisses all over his shoulders, up the curve of his neck and right at his ear before Harry turned to face Louis giving him permission to bring the kisses to his lips. In a matter of seconds Harry's hands were pressed tightly to Lou's back but in an innocent way, a needy way, the way that said please, I am begging you, don't ever let me go, and Lou had no intention of letting that happen. Harry's chest expanded with a deep breath and Lou heard a small whimper fall from the boy's mouth, he brought his lips back to Harry's before he could let out another, and filled it with affirmations, making sure Harry not only heard the words, but felt them as Lou's lips spoke right against his. He loved Harry Styles, and he'd never love another person that much.

"You're everything, you're beautiful, you're light, you're love, you're my little spoon, you're my future, you're my muse, you're my anchor, you're my home, you're every song, you're every word, you're in my veins Harry Styles. You are part of me forever..."

Harry released a sigh again, but this one wasn't heavy, wasn't full of pain, this one was the sigh Lou heard when he knew Harry felt loved, and in that moment the boys drifted off to sleep together, bracing themselves for what tomorrow held.

Louis shook his head, because tomorrow had come and this morning he watched Harry pick himself up off of their bed, hang his head on the way to their shower, walk down to their kitchen and cook breakfast, one of the last they'd have together for a few months while people got attached to the new relationship Louis was being thrown into. He helped Harry take some bags of items down to their car, not removing everything from their home, just the clothes he liked to wear most often, sans one shirt that Lou kept for himself, to sleep in when the nights were unbearable. He kissed Harry softly but passionately, stating that this wasn't over for him, and felt a single tear fall upon his cheek, followed by one more, then another, and soon it wasn't clear which set of eyes they were coming from because both boys were crying in a deep embrace and neither of them wanted to let go. The driver honked the horn and Harry knew it was time to go, Lou had to go upstairs to hit send on a tweet and prepare for his first public outing with El the following morning, and Harry had to go see Nail, who was going to make this better...somehow.

The bed was so empty now, everything was so empty now, but before he knew it night had fallen, and as Lou walked out of the bathroom back to his now too big bed, he heard the soft sound of a door closing followed by feet walking in a line up his staircase, there were butterflies in his stomach as he heard the sweet sound of Harry humming 'Little Things' as he opened the door to their bedroom. He lept out of bed to meet Harry at the door and kissed him so passionately he thought they'd start a fire.

"We've only got 4 hours Lou, but I couldn't be away from you, come on my darling, lets go to bed"


	2. No Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis knows Harry misses him, Louis knows he misses Harry right back, so he plans a perfect date for the two of them to enjoy.

The bed was cold on Harry's side as Lou pulled the blankets over his midsection, he thought there would be more sneak-overs, Harry finding his way past the paparazzi into their home, but it hadn't happened since the first night; his phone didnt ring as much during the day, as a matter of fact, he couldn't remember the last time he and Harry had a conversation in private. He knew he was partially responsible for this, yes it was part of management's contract that he date Eleanor, but the very public kiss that graced the front page of newspapers and magazines had looked little a more comfortable than something done just for show and since that photo was released, Harry had backed off. Louis missed the love of his life though, he missed the curly haired boy who made his heart skip beats, so he had a plan, and it was going to sweep Mr. Styles right off of his feet.

Lou gave Eleanor the night off to go spend time with her friends, they'd probably go to the mall or a movie and to be honest he didn't care what they did as long as he got to spend time alone with Harry. Louis typed up a simple text message, "Be in your hotel room at 6:30, not a minute later, I'll be the knock at the door". There was no reply but Louis knew Harry had to miss him too, even if he was giving him the cold shoulder, so he still got to work. He went to a few stores in an oversized hoodie with a beanie on his head, he managed to be generally unseen except for the girl who helped find the perfect shirt for Harry and the cashier who noticed his tattoos as he reached in his back pocket to pay for the headscarf he picked out. He smiled at them both and they returned with an understanding nod, he promised to get back to those girls, maybe he could get them concert tickets, or at least a signed CD, they could have made a scene, but they didn't, and they both knew the items weren't for him personally. He went to his own hotel room to shower off the sweat and grime of the day and had Zayn over to fix his quiff. "Got a date with El tonight?" Zayn asked when he was finished, "No man, going to spend some time with Harry," Lou replied. Zayn met the response with a bit of a frown, "You know he's hurt right Lou, we all know this wasn't your idea, but that kiss, El is playing into this hard and you met her more than half way for it." Louis just nodded, he knew he'd hurt Harry, he knew every second of this was killing him. "You all know she doesn't mean anything to me though, but if we don't do this, I'd hate to think of what they'd do to me, the band could go on without me, and without you guys, without this, without Harry, I'm nothing." Zayn leaned into Louis for an embrace, "You're not nothing Louis, you're one of us, and to Harry, man to Harry you're the keeper of the stars, so cheer up, paint on that smile and go get him tiger!" They both laughed in unison, followed by a warm embrace and a pat on the shoulder as Louis ran to the elevators; it was 6:28 and he had two minutes to get to Harry's door. 

Harry must have been standing right there because the second Lou's knuckles hit the wood of the door he opened the door with the biggest smile, there was no use in trying to hide it, and Lou lost his breath, and part of his balance. He braced himself in the door way as he let out a sigh and smiled largely, unable to keep his hands to himself he dropped the bags that contained Harry's presents and pushed him into his room, up against a wall, and kissed him fiercely. He paid attention to the way Harry kissed him back, it wasn't as passionate as it was needy, Harry physically needed Louis in that moment, his hands grasping at the back of his head, one on his hip, and all of a sudden Lou's cheek felt damp as Harry's eyelashes grazed them, "I've missed you so much, Louis," Harry began, "So much I didn't know what I was going to do without you, but it looked like you knew exactly what to do without me and I just, I hate seeing you with her Lou, I'm strong and I'm trying to be brave but I can't stand the way she looks at you like you're some type of prize, you're not a trophy to be gawked at. You are the reason I am who I am Lou, you are sunshine and you're rain, you are laughter, you're the thought that gets stuck in my mind, you're the beat of my heart when I'm calm, you're the rush of adrenaline when I'm excited, you aren't a piece of metal to be sat on a mantle, you are life Lou, you are my life." The sobbing began directly after his declaration of love and Louis made sure to hug him so tight he thought they'd become one person, and he kissed every single tear that fell from Harry's eyes, he kissed his cheeks, his lips, his chin, he moved Harry's curls from matting to his face and he wiped his cheeks, he looked up at him, into beautiful clear eyes, and he told him so simply, so quietly, yet so perfectly, "Harry Styles, you are in my veins, you are part of me." Harry kissed him, he never wanted to stop kissing him, he never wanted their bodies to be apart, not their souls or their minds either, they both indulged in the moment until Lou reminded Harry that he had a special night planned, and this was just the beginning.

Louis enlisted the help of the other boys by planning on them going to see a film of their own, with two mates that resembled Harry and Lou they'd go to the theater and then back to Liam's apartment in the city for a night of drinks and games with 'the band'. This allowed Louis to hire a driver and head north of town an hour and a half to a little italian restaurant they both loved but never got to go to; this night would have been no different but Lou called ahead, the restaurant told it's usual patrons that the chef called in ill and with so little time to find someone with his caliber of cooking talent, they'd have to close off for the evening. The customers there were spoiled on Chef Branson's food anyway, so no one put up an argument, all the while the chef snuck in the back and created the perfect meal for Harry and Louis and lit the place up with candles and a couple bottles of sweet red wine. Harry smiled as they turned onto the street where he knew the restaurant sat, and he held Lou's hand so tight he lost feeling in his hands but he didn't care, he could feel Harry's heart beat from a few inches over and it felt like home, he felt safe and warm, and whole again. Louis knocked at the backdoor and the chef let them in, he poured their glasses of wine and at the beginning of each course, he explained his meal, just like their first date here, he looked at them longingly, almost like he'd been in deep love once, he reminded them to hold on to each other regardless of what would come their way, and he told them thank you, for the inspiration that the two of them sent into the universe, because he received it in his own heart that night. After they'd finished desert Lou removed his wallet to pay him and he refused the money with a smile, Lou hugged him tightly and told him thank you, for more than he knew, he smiled at the boys with a loving grin, and wished them the best, inviting them back whenever they found downtime. Harry assured the man that they'd be back before he even had a chance to miss them, he held Lou's hand as he drug him out to the car and they giggled, they kissed, and they held each other so tightly through the car ride to the quaint little town Louis had planned to visit for the next part of their date.

They arrived at a vacant lot at the beginning of a road that was lit up with hanging tea lights, they held hands as they passed along the windows of the shops that had shut down for the night, taking the time to look in each one and imagine what their lives would be like if they had owned the items, if that picture hung in their, if Louis wore this shirt for their Wednesday date nights, if Harry wore that headscarf for their next leg of shows. They laughed and Louis kissed Harry's face sweetly as the approached a blanket surrounded by candles and Harry stopped as he finally saw it, he looked over at Lou and smiled sweetly, he pranced to the middle of the blanket and spun Lou around in tiny circles before they sat down. Louis had a poetry book sitting beside two cups of freshly made hot chocolate, Harry decided then he'd owe someone for helping Lou put all of this together, it was perfect, each new moment leading into a special memory for the two of them to share these memories just for themselves. Louis read him poems while Harry stroked Lou's beautiful head of hair that lay in his lap, he took moments to look up at the sky and take it in, to send thanks to whomever was up there, and to breathe in the scent of Lou, to embrace the way he felt, to snapshot the way his eyelashes were so dark against his fair cheeks, their untanned skin hadn't been to a beach in months, but he was still so beautiful, how was this boy even real? How was Harry lucky enough to love him? He must have been lost in his own thoughts for a while because Louis was suddenly placing a hand to Harry's cheek asking if he was okay, and Harry replied without much else than a smile and a sweet kiss on his cheeks. "Baby your nose is so cold, let's get going, I want to take you home." Louis said, "Happily." Harry replied.

The car ride back to the hotel was short, or maybe it seemed that way because Lou's lips never left Harry's, the driver chuckled to himself, to be young and in love, he thought, to have that much lung expansion, he giggled, but nevertheless, their display of affection for each other was real, it was raw, it was them. They made it back to the hotel and snuck in the back way, the same way they always did during tour, and took the repair elevator to Harry's floor where they didn't stop touching long enough to lock the door. Harry removed Lou's blazer and shuddered as it fell to the floor, it'd been so long since he'd seen Lou's simple curves and known he was going to get to touch them, to kiss them, he unbuttoned his shirt slowly, kissing the exposed chest with each button he slipped open, he'd almost reached the bottom when they were interrupted by a phone call.  
"Harry, it's Liam, probably checking in to make sure things went smoothly, I've got to answer."  
"Louis it's okay, I'm going to lock the door and pour us another glass of wine, more sweet red?"  
"I love you baby, you know me so well."

"Hey Liam, it's Lou, how were the decoys?"  
"Let me say how proud I am of our work, and lets just say news outlets will be reporting tomorrow about 'The boys of One Direction and their bro's night out. Fake Harry and Louis are going to sneak out around 5 am, so just make sure you kind of keep a schedule close to that."  
"I owe you one mate, I owe you several. Thank you."  
"Of course Louis, anything for the two of you, now don't let me take up any of your time, tell Harry I said hello."

The phone clicked off and Harry came back into their bedroom, a glass of wine in each hand but without his shirt. Louis looked disappointed because he loved being the one to take off Harry's clothes, he loved feeling the goosebumps raise up underneath his fingers as he moved the shirt off of Harry's shoulders, but he smiled when he saw the mischievous look in Harry's eyes. They were both suddenly unsure of why Harry even bothered pouring the glasses of wine, Lou pounced at him, knocking them both from his hands and Harry backwards onto the bed. Harry wasted no time trying to unbutton Lou's last clasp, instead ripping the shirt right off of him, it'd been so long since Louis belonged to Harry, since Harry belonged to Lou, they didn't want to waste anymore time. Louis kissed down onto Harry's neck, licking along his collar bone, rubbing his fingers along the tattoos that adorned his chest, kissing across each one as he slowly took Harry's nipple into his mouth, flicking his tongue over it until it became hard and he heard the sweet moan released from Harry's mouth, he moved on to the next one before kissing a trail down his abdomen, across the tattoos on his hips and tongued at the V that led down Harry's immaculate abdomen. He looked deep into Harry's eyes and didn't miss a beat unbuttoning his trousers, pulling them down off of his legs entirely, followed by his tight pants that hugged him perfectly. Harry's cock sprung out and curved up against his abdomen, but it wasn't long before Lou licked his lips and Harry threw his head back when Lou's tongue licked over him, swallowing his pre cum like it was the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted. Louis worked his head back and forth over Harry, allowing him entrance into the back of his throat, moving quick enough that Harry thought he'd not last a moment, turns out he was right, with nothing but Lou's name screaming from his lips, he unloaded himself into Lou's throat and he swallowed him down, letting him ride out his orgasm. 

"Fuck, Lou, I'....I'm sorry, I trie...I tried."  
"Baby, don't be sorry, we've got all night, and Harry knew Lou meant business by the look in his eyes, and the way he called him baby wasn't the same way he'd said it at dinner.

Harry brought Lou's face up to his and kissed him passionately, licking around every part of his mouth, wrapping his fingers in Lou's messy hair and pulling it back gently, he rocked his hips up to meet Lou's and excitedly let him know he was ready for more, Lou squealed a little bit as he removed his own trousers and pants, excited that Harry was ready to be opened up, but everything changed when Harry flipped them over, pinning Louis beneath him as he spit on his fingers and slowly pushed one inside Lou's opening. 

"I don't know about you, but all night isn't enough time for me, I hope you don't mind but..." Harry was cut off by Louis pressing his mouth against him and Harry knew it was okay. One finger turned into two, which turned into three and Louis was all but mewling into Harry's mouth, his hips were bucking up to meet Harry's fingers being thrust inside of him, curling up at the proper angle to hit his prostate and drive him into a frenzy. He could have come like that, untouched and without Harry's cock, but they both wanted to feel each other again, so Harry removed his fingers and told Lou how perfect he looked, Louis smiled up at Harry with dilated eyes a messy fringe and his lips fell open as Harry thrust inside of him, hard at first, then slowly to give him a chance to expand, to be filled with Harry's length, as soon as Louis came back down to earth he gave Harry the nod that told him to go ahead, but Harry was feeling greedy and he wanted to hear how wrecked Lou's voice sounded. 

"What do you want me to do Lou," he asked coyly, "tell me how bad you want it."  
"Harry, fuck, I want, I need, I, you, you have to fuck me, now, baby please."

Harry was almost lightheaded when he finally heard Louis' voice, breathless, jagged, but so fucking sexy he couldn't stand it, he thrust inside him again, hard and fast and relentlessly as Lou screamed out his name, he breathed hard and fast and clawed at his back and thrust up to meet him and within moments he knew it was happening, it'd been so long and it felt so good as they came together in a fit of moans and screams and then a silent breathlessness.

Harry collapsed onto Louis and neither of them cared if they were sticky or sweaty, they just got to exist together and it was enough.

"I know you've got to get out of here soon, to keep up appearances, but can you just stay for a minute, just hold me for a little while?"

"Of course baby, come here."

Lou kissed Harry's face until he couldn't feel his lips and Harry curled into him and sighed, it took seconds before he was asleep on his chest and Lou could feel the slow beat of his heart.

I'm home, he thought, as he drifted into dreams of his own, I am home.


	3. Little White Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis wonders if Harry would be better off without him, so he writes a letter, Zayn finds out about it and tells Harry, so Harry places his ace!

There were love bites all across Harry’s chest the next day, Louis had his own set too, trailing down his neck. Their make up team looked at the two boys and laughed, “Wherever you ended up last night…take us with you next time!”

Liam found the situation to be less of a joke, “How about this for a headline today you two, ‘After One Direction’s boys night out, Harry and Louis show up for an interview covered in love bites.’ Could you have, for our sake, tried a little harder to keep them hidden?!”  
 “I’m sorry Liam,” Lou began, “I hadn’t been able to just…be with Harry in so long, I, I’m sorry, I know you went to great lengths to try to help me out last night. I didn’t mean to upset you lad.”   
"This has way less to do with upsetting me as it has to do with management Lou, they won’t even let you stand beside each other anymore, you can’t sit together during interviews, you can barely look at each other. before they’re in our ears telling you two to stop. You aren’t making things hard on us, you’re making them impossible for yourselves.”  
 Louis jumped out of his chair and hit Liam with quite an evil stare. “I’m making things impossible because of the man I love, me kissing him makes this impossible!? Bug off Liam, you can say whatever shit you want to me but don’t you dare tell me, in front of Harry, that we’re the problem. What would you do if you weren’t allowed to kiss Sophia? Not allowed to get into bed with her at night? Not allowed to hold her hand on a fucking walk Liam, how would you act?”  
 “That would never happen to us Louis; I love a woman.” As soon as the words escaped his mouth Liam regretted saying them, and as soon as his face felt Louis’ hand he knew it was too late to take them back.

Lou stormed out of their dressing room and lit a cigarette before he’d even left the studio building, he was shaking, he was on the verge of tears, and he knew Liam didn’t mean what he said, at least not in the way it came out…but he was right. Management never tried to keep Liam away from Sophia, Zayn was never kept from Perrie, it was just Louis and Harry who weren’t allowed to love, and it wasn’t ruining the band, but it was making things difficult. They had to change routines that once allowed Harry and Lou to be themselves, formations were changed for songs and interviews, if Harry walked away and Lou tried to follow, Niall was the buffer who worked his way in between them, when Louis looked at Harry for too long Liam would be the distracting slap on the shoulder to break the stare. When it was time to sing ‘Little Things’ Zayn would pop down next to Louis and make jokes from the beginning so the romance was gone. They were all playing roles in this awful performance and they did so with a smile; the boys loved their fans, they loved their music, and they loved each other, but how much longer could Louis could put up with this, how much longer could he allow himself to be driven away from the one person who felt like home?

Before he could get lost too much deeper into his own mind, Zayn took a seat beside him on the curb and lit his own cigarette. “Listen Lou, Liam didn’t mean a thing when he said he loved a woman, you know we love you and we love Harry, we’re all rooting for you two it’s just, it gets hard because we don’t like to see you two hurt, and…”  But Louis cut him off, “It always hurts Zayn, you know Harry fell asleep first last night and I held him and I kissed his head and I thought to myself, this is home, he is everything. It was fine for a moment, more than fine, I fell asleep with a smile Zayn, a smile…but I woke up 30 minutes later and I was shaking, I slid out of bed to let Harry sleep and I went to the balcony and I cried, I lost it, I knew today would bring the harsh reality that comes with loving someone you aren’t supposed to. I knew we’d taken it too far with the bites, I wondered if Harry’s lips would still be swollen, if we’d be able to act like we were with you two all night instead of being hidden in a room making love, and I know you don’t want to hear about all that lad but I…I just lost it. I know I am hurting you boys, but I’m hurting Harry too, he’s so young, and innocent and sometimes Zayn… his eyes look so sunken in and his heart literally hurts him and I, I know I’m the reason.” Tears filled Louis’ eyes and Zayn pulled him in for a hug, he sobbed until he didn’t have a tear left and all Zayn did was let him, he ran his hands through Lou’s hair and he let him be broken.  When his breathing slowed and he began to sit up Zayn grabbed Lou’s hand and looked him directly in his eyes, “You aren’t hurting us Lou, and you certainly aren’t hurting Harry, you bring him to life Louis. He looks at you like, hell I don’t even know how to put it into words, he looks at you like you’re the only thing he’s ever known, it’s fucking beautiful. You can’t break yourself for having to do what they tell you to, Harry has to follow suit too, you know soon enough they’ll find a way to link him to girls and maybe even to a relationship…we’re going to have to find a way to ride it out, I’ll do what I can lad just…don’t do anything stupid okay?” 

It was like Zayn was already in Lou’s head because Louis had in fact planned to do something stupid. He had the letter nicely folded in his back pocket, the letter he’d give to Harry to set him free.

"Come on inside Zayn, let's stop being so serious, we've got an interview to get to lad!" Lou said painfully cheerful as he stood up to walk inside. At that moment Zayn knew, the storm hadn't even hit yet. 

Lou walked up to Liam and threw his arms around his neck, Liam greeted the embrace and pulled Lou in a little tighter, "I'm so sorry mate, he said quietly into Lous' ear, you know I didn't mean it."

"No problem lad; let's forget about it okay? Knock this interview out of the park and we'll all go out for drinks!" Louis smiled at him and the other boys agreed, a few more brush strikes against Harry's chest and they were ready to walk on set. Harry went to grab Louis' hand but he was met with resistance, "Let's not make it any harder today, okay Hazaa?" Harry smiled down at him but his heart clinched inside his chest. Why did Liam have to open his big mouth? 

The interview was a hit, as usual, the boys were chipper as they talked about their music, their tour, their relationships with eachother and how lucky they all were to have been put together. They remained thankful to the X Factor every day for their success, they had it all, they really did, they were living their dreams. They boys smiled at eachother as they loaded into seperate cars, they'd go home and change and meet at the pub in an hour, an hour of silence before it all began Lou thought to himself, an hour more of happiness. 

Louis showed up in his favorite t shirt, or maybe it was Harry's favorite shirt to see him in, he figured he should try to seem as normal as they could for a while at least. The scoop neck allowed his tattoo to be seen and Harry loved looking at it in public, biting at it in bed. Lou slid in next to him and Harry whispered, "I'm sneaking home tonight, you wore that shirt on purpose. I can't get enough of you." He'd had a few already, his cheeks were red and his lips pursed, he had the look in his eyes that made Lou's entire body go weak, this was proving to be more difficult than Louis had imagined already, but it was too late to stop now. Lou ordered his first drink; then another, and one more before anyone noticed he was staring at the door.

"Waiting for me?" Her voice asked sweetly but with a sting of attitude, modest hadn't set this up...and she knew the boys had no use she'd be joining them this evening. She smiled at Zayn as he got up so she could squeeze in next to Louis and Harry immediately moved his hand Way from Lou's leg.

"Hey lads; hope it's okay I invited Eleanor to come out tonight, she didn't have anything else to do and I knew she could probably use a break from being holed up inside too." The other boys smiled and Niall took the reigns, "Of course not Lou, El we're happy to see you, can I buy you a drink?" He reached his arm out to her and led her away with a smile. Immediately Harry's eyes turned to Louis..."you could have told me she was coming." Was all he said as he asked Liam to join him outside.

"I thought I told you not to do anything stupid Louis," Zayn said sternly.  
"I'm not Zayn; I'm finally doing something right." He reached into his back pocket and showed Zayn the folded piece of paper, "tonight once we get ready to leave I'm going to slip this to Harry, go home and sleep all day."  
"Is that what I think it is Louis?" Zayn asked with a frown.  
"If you think it's a letter explaining why we can't keep doing this to each other then yes, it is." With that Louis got up and joined El and Niall at the bar, Zayn saw the note had fallen out of Lou's pocket and made his decision. He wasn't going to let his best mates hate themselves and each other. Liam came inside followed slowly by Harry but Zayn pushed him right back outside, before Louis could notice.  
"What's with the urgency Zayn? I need another drink, I need 10 drinks."  
"No Harry you need to sit out here and listen to me, I'm playing my ace, I'm giving you the control but you've got to know beforehand this isn't an act of malicious intent, he thinks he's doing you a favor."  
"Right, invite Eleanor to dinner as a favor to Harry, makes sense don't you think."  
"I'm not talking about that Harry; I'm talking about this."  
Zayn handed harry the note and by its precise fold and little xx on the front Harry knew it was from Louis.  
"What is this Zayn?" He asked.  
"It's a break up letter, Louis thinks he's killing you; he thinks he's stealing your innocence, you've got to play your cards Harry, you've gotta speak to him but you can't let him know you've seen this. I'm going back inside but read it Styles, and come up with your plan."

Harry sat with the note between his fingers before tearing it open and reading the words Louis had left for him. 'I'm hurting you baby, I know that I am and I can't allow myself to be the cause of your pain anymore. You are light but I'm dulling your shine and I'd rather live in darkness alone than drag you down with me.' Harry wiped a tear but kept reading, 'I never knew what love was until I knew you, and if this is where we end, if I've only been able to know this love for a little while, then it is sufficient enough to last me a lifetime. Your love has given me life again, but I can't keep stealing yours. I meant it when I said you're forever in my heart, I hope I'll always have a place in yours. I'll love you forever Hazaa. XXXXX Louis.'

Harry wiped away his tears and was hit with a sudden surge of confidence, Louis was crazy if he thought this is where their love ended, and he was going to make sure he knew that.

"Harry are you alright?" Lou asked as he returned to the table.  
"Never better Louis; I feel recharged somehow, I needed a breath of air, would you like another drink? Looks like your cups run out..."  
"Sure Haz, thanks."  
"Anything for you."

Zayn mentjoned his cup being empty too and joined Harry at the bar. "What's going on mate?" He asked.  
"Louis is crazy if he thinks we're not meant to tough this out, he's mine and I am his; I'm not going anywhere."  
"There's my Styles," Zayn exclaimed as he shook Harry's curls atop his head, "You're already plotting aren't you?" He asked.  
Harry just smiled at him sheepishly, somehow screaming with confidence too and nodded his head. "Tonight is going to get very interesting" they said in unison as Harry slid the note back to Zayn.

Three hours had passed and Eleanor was growing bored with the boys, she wasn't part of their funny stories, didn't know their inside jokes, and no one was stroking her leg under the table, so she sent a few texts and made up some outlandish excuse to leave.

"We'll miss you El," Harry shouted her way while pushing his thumb into Lou's thigh.  
"I'm sure" she replied as she leaned down to kiss him, shoving her weight onto the leg closest to Harry, causing his hand to slide off. "Just in case there are paps, you know." She left with a wink and Louis sat up, everything was warm and his eyes were a little dancy and suddenly he just wanted to get Harry alone. His inhibition was gone until he remembered the note, and reached to his back pocket, he looked a little frightened until Zayn showed it to him quickly, and placed it into his own pocket for safe keeping. "Thanks" Louis mouthed towards him as he placed his hand on Harry's thigh, tracing shapes at first, then lines, then words like mine, forever, love, Hazaa...each one drawing a bigger smile from Harry's lips. Louis knew what would really get him though, so he carefully wrote out 'I want you' on his leg and Harry felt a shock through his spine.

"Boys it's getting late and Louis is looking a bit done himself, I think we'll head back to the hotel now" Harry proclaimed getting up from the table.  
The other boys looked at the two of them and smiled while they said their goodbyes, Harry stopping at Zayn and taking the note carefully. He nodded at him and pulled Louis out the back where their driver was waiting.  
"Just you two for now boys?"  
"Yes sir, back to the hotel please." Harry replied before throwing himself into Louis.

Louis couldn't wait to get upstairs to use the restroom so he stopped at the guest bathroom in the lobby, he was to meet Harry in his room in 5 minutes. Harry rushed upstairs and laid the note under his journal on the nightstand while he took off his hoodie and put on a tight white t-shirt. It wouldn't last 5 minutes but he knew what it did to Louis when he saw him in it. 

His plan worked immediately, Louis saw Harry, slammed the door closed and pushed him down onto the bed. He wasted no time before biting into Harry's neck, his tongue licking down his collarbone; leaving kisses and whispers across his chest. Harry pulled his head back up and locked him into a passionate kiss, pulling at the back of Louis' hair just hard enough to produce a moan. Harry used his free hand to unbutton Lou's jeans and help him shimmy out of them. Lou was breathless as he fell to the bed while Harry climbed on top for now. He lifted Lou's shirt up and cradled him as he removed it from his shoulders up over his head. He'd seen Lou beneath him more times than he could count but this time was different, this time Harry had the cards in his hand and Lou looked up at him with hungry eyes. He promised Louis he would take care of him and bit his own teeth into Lou's skin, leaving his own trail of kisses across his chest and abdomen. He hooked his fingers around Lou's hip as his kisses got lower, but stopped right above Lou's cock and lifted himself up. He removed his own shirt and trousers and Louis watched him, he took his time and swore he saw Louis mouth dirty things to him the entire time. He was playing this perfectly, teasing Louis but unfortunately also himself. Louis felt so good, everything about him and all Harry wanted to do was feel Louis inside him but he remembered the note and imagined a life without Lou and knew that rushing through this part wasn't an option tonight. 

He laid back on top of Louis and took his cock into his mouth slowly, licking over his slit feeling Lou tremble beneath him, he tastes pre cum as he moved Louis farther into his mouth, almost to his throat. He looked up at Lou through his long eyelashes and Louis lost it. He grabbed the back of Harry's head and thrust into his mouth, he only lasted a few moments before spraying into the back of Harry's throat. Harry sucked him through the orgasm and swallowed him down; moving back up to straddle his hips he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Baby I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?" Lou asked.  
"Of course not, I'm fine, I just miss this Louis, I miss you. I miss the way you looked at me before they found out about us; the way you kissed me slowly like you savored every moment. I love you Louis. I'm going to love you forever.  
"Harry," Lou cut him off, "I'm never going anywhere, I love you too. I can't look at you and see anything but a future together, us in the band, us getting married, a couple kids down the line. I want to teach them to play football like I do, and hopefully they'll sing like you do, it's just...sometimes I worry I'm killing you, I'm sucking the life out of you and I don't want to steal your light Hazaa. Your light gives me life."  
"You couldn't steal my light if you tried Lou, I am who I am because of you, there are no parts of me you haven't touched, no pieces of who I am that aren't influenced by you. You're my past, my now, my forever. I want you all the days of my life."  
"Harry," he cried, "promise me you'll remind me of that if I ever fear that I'm hurting you again. Promise me, please, right now."  
Louis was pleading again but not for Harry's body this time, he was pleading for Harry's light; his love; his heart.  
"I promise Louis: I'll remind you every single day."  
"Harry I'm sorry I invited Eleanor, I'm sorry for a lot more than that too and when I get back I promise I'm going to absolutely wreck you but can I please give Zayn a call, just for a moment?"  
"Yes, daddy" Harry replied with a snarky grin. "Your baby will be here waiting for you when you get back."

Louis ran out of bed and into the hallway with his phone in hand, two rings and Zayn answered the phone. "Zayn, tear up that letter, burn it, throw it in your garbage disposal, just get rid of it."  
"I can manage that Lou; everything okay? You sound out of it lad."  
"I love him, he loves me back with his whole heart Zayn; I was an idiot. And I'm being one again so I've got to go. He's waiting for me and..."  
"No need for the mental image man, take your time and have..."  
But the phone cut off and Louis dropped it to the ground as he ran back to the bed and saw Harry was just as he promised, ready and waiting for daddy to come to bed.


	4. I want.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just smut, I am sorry ahead of time, it's got some cute moments too but it's just smutty smut smut.

"I got myself ready for you Daddy," Harry said with a grin while he licked his lips and looked at Louis.  
Louis couldn't move, Harry had the power to completely obliterate him without having to lift a finger, Lou liked to be in control, he wanted to have the power, but they both knew Harry had all the power and then some. The thing was, Harry liked relinquishing his power to Lou, he liked being submissive, he wanted Lou to take control, especially tonight, especially knowing that he'd almost lost him. Harry wanted to be anything Lou needed tonight.  
Lou made his way to the bed and he hovered over Harry, he was kissing him all over, and anytime Harry would begin to lose himself Lou would stop, he'd remove his lips or his fingers, forcing Harry to beg for Lou to touch him again.  
"You look so beautiful baby, you're so pretty," he told him as he took his fingers and grazed Harry's face, running slowly across his cheek bones. He leaned down to Harry's eyes and kissed them gently, feeling Harry's breath on his neck made his entire body shiver, and Harry knew not to push too far without permission, but he leaned his chin up to kiss Lou's neck and he shuddered, they both did, feeling the chills overtake them. Lou could have got lost there, he could have made love to Harry sweetly and slowly full of passion all evening, but he knew Harry was his tonight, and with that thought he got his force back, his small hand grabbed both of Harry's larger ones and pinned them above his head.  
"Daddy didn't tell you to move, baby." and he jerked his pelvis into Harry's rendering him still, he wanted to let out a moan, but he controlled it, he stopped the sound from leaving his lips and replaced them with words.  
"I'm sorry, Daddy, I'm sorry." Harry looks up at him with wide eyes, dilated and red wet lips...Lou loses whatever reserve he had left and throws himself back onto Harry, kissing him hard, rough, their teeth clashing against each other, tongues finding every piece of the others mouth...his hands were all over Harry, and for as much as Harry wanted to return the favor he kept his hands up above his head, wanting to be a good boy.  
Louis rewarded Harry by taking his cock into his mouth, slowly at first, just running his tongue over the head, Harry's hips bucked up though when Lou took him down to the back of his throat. Harry loved that Lou could take him entirely, loved the way it felt when Lou swallowed around him. Lou bobbed his head up and down slowly at first, placing a free hand towards the bottom of Harrys dick to stroke alongside his mouth. Harry was close already and when his stomach started to tighten and his legs began to go stiff, Lou took his mouth off of Harry fast.  
"Are you being a good boy for daddy?" He asked Harry, still stroking him, "Are you going to cum for daddy, show me how much you like it when I touch you?"  
His eyes rolled back and his mouth fell open, Lou grabbed his face with his free hand so he could see the pleasure build as the orgasm released. He loved seeing how easily he wrecked Harry, loved seeing his body shake and muscles contract underneath him. Harry came back and asked if he could kiss Louis, he smiled down at him and gently brushed Harry's curls off of his face, he brought their lips together in a slow, passionate kiss, this kiss was Harry's favorite, after he came down from his orgasm Louis rewarded him with the sweetest kiss, it was always how he felt that he knew he'd done good, he really was Lou's good boy. This time he took an extra few moments on the kiss, and Harry was practically melting beneath him before Lou pulled his head up, gave Harry a wink and lifted himself off the bed.  
"Do you want to keep being my good boy?" He asked, shuffling through a drawer, they may have been away from home but that didn't mean Louis didn't come prepared.  
"Yes Daddy." Were the only words Harry replied and Louis knew he was getting himself zoned out already, this was their favorite part of the submissive role Harry played, subspace. Harry would begin in one level, being totally submissive to Louis in thoughts and actions, but after the first orgasm he never came all the way back down, so each one from then on out shook him harder which made Louis squirm in anticipation. He'd had to pull Harry back down to him he'd been so lost before, Harry loved being there and Louis loved getting him there, it was pleasurable for them both.  
Lou brought ties to the bed, and fastened Harry's arms above his head, he grabbed a bottle of lube and sat it on the night stand and he grabbed a small whip and laid it next to Harry. He told Harry what a good boy he'd been, and what a good boy he'd continue to be for him, Harry could only nod and try to keep his eyes open, he was ready so Lou met him first with a slight smack on his hip, Harry shook back and focused in on Lou, nodding quickly telling Lou he was ready. Lou slapped him again, this time on the other side, he brought his mouth down and placed bites along Harry's V and all along the space above his cock, he bypassed it completely though and started placing bites on his thighs. Harry trembled beneath him and Lou kept moving, slowly sucking bites into the delicate skin and bringing his fingers up to Harry's ass, he looked at Harry and smiled, flipping his body over quickly and biting into his ass, Lou didn't take his lips away from Harry while he reached over for the lube, Harry must have seen him do it because he let out an anticipatory sigh and Lou smiled to himself, Harry was such a good boy, so good.  
Lou lubed up his fingers and brought them to his rim, he slid one in without so much as a warning and Harry let a gasp escape his lips, he moved his finger in slowly a few times before adding the second, followed soon after by the third, he was moving them around, opening Harry up and his hips were thrusting wildly, he found Harry's prostate and stroked it gently, sending Harry into what looked like convulsions, he was barely holding on to reality as Lou slid his fingers outside of him and braced himself against Harry, holding onto his hips, he grabbed Harry's hair and drug his head up, whispered into his ear and thrust himself into Harry's opening. His body tried to give out but Lou held him up as he pushed in again, and again, and again. Harry was losing it losing any hold he had left when Lou pulled almost all the way out, gave himself a small adjustment, and slammed back in directly to his prostate, Harry came, untouched as his body fell apart underneath Lou. He kept thrusting into Harry, pushing him through his orgasm, and building up to his own, Harry laid beneath him shaking but when Lou tried to slow down he gave his ass a small shake, letting Lou know it was okay to keep going, Harry had mentally checked out, Lou wanted to watch him exist there so he flipped Harry around, and threw his legs over his shoulders, thrust right back inside and Harry's eyes rolled even farther back, his skin was flushed, his lips were bright red and all the bites had started to turn into little red marks; Harry was wrecked, it was beautiful and the sight of that alone was enough to send Louis over the edge, but he opened his mouth without missing a beat, and said  
"I love you, Daddy", with one last thrust he came inside of Harry, frozen as the orgasm passed through him. Lou's body collapsed onto Harry and he gave himself a few seconds to recover before he looked up at Harry and saw him still lost. Lou walked into the bathroom and got a towel, he wet half of it getting it a little more than luke warm and he rubbed Harry down, cuddling him in his arms while he brought a clean space up to wet his forehead, he then took the dry part and rubbed his body down before dropping it off the edge of the bed. Harry purred into Louis as Lou filled his head with beautiful words.  
"Harry baby, you did so good tonight, you looked so beautiful. Your hair all messy across your face, your bright eyes dilated looking down at me, your lips quivering with my touch, your voice so deep, your moans so raw. You did so so good for me tonight."  
Harry leaned up and grabbed Lou's face, brought him down for a kiss and he was back, he took Lou's arms and forced him to squeeze him tighter.  
"I love you so much Louis Tomlinson."  
"I love you too, Harry Styles"


	5. Gotta Be You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly fluff, a little smut, and a lot of love.

This is gonna be hard; he thought to himself as he ran his fingers through Harry’s beautiful curls, but fuck I can’t live without him.  
Louis had been up for an hour, watching Harry sleep, noticing how his breathing was synchronized with his own, how Harry’s heart beat sped up with Lou’s, slowed down when he took a deep breath, how when Lou moved an arm Harry just cuddled right back in without missing a beat. They were so in sync; even when one of them was asleep, how had he thought, not even 24 hours ago, that he’d be able to live without this boy?  
Harry must have sensed his thoughts running wild because he simply stretched his neck up and graced the side of Lou’s face with his hand and pulled him down for a kiss. Their lips met with a softness and they moved together before Harry moved his tongue slowly along Lou’s bottom lip asking for entry, Lou gave a little smile and opened his mouth allowing Harry room to explore. Every time they kissed he saw fire works, little did he know Harry did too, they were both still incredibly in love, still discovering new things about each other…like the way Lou moaned quietly when Harry ran his tongue across the roof of his mouth, the way he melted into Harry as he shifted his weight and moved up so he could take Lou’s hair in his hands, how with one simple rub of his hand down his hip, Lou was hard. Harry pulled away from Lou’s mouth and gave him a mischievous grin.  
"Are you ever tired Lou?" He asked, "I swear last night did me in and you could go again, right now?"  
"Harry, it’s you, I could do this all day," he answered and before Lou could ask if Harry was up for another round he felt the familiar touch of Harry’s hand running slowly along his length.  
Louis let his head fall back into the pillow and moaned as Harry’s fingers found the head of his cock already leaning pre cum, he took it and used it to slick Lou up as he gained speed, he brought his lips up to embrace Lou’s again, but only for a moment before he turned his head to the side, getting curls out of his face, and winked at Lou before he moved down his body.  
Within seconds Harry took Lou into his mouth again, immediately allowing him access to the back of his throat.  
"Fuck, Harry…" Was all Lou could manage before he felt his hips buck up as Harry pressed his tongue flat along the bottom of his cock. He drew shapes with the tip of his tongue along his length and each new one left chills along Lou’s entirety, he shook and moaned and let out whimpers, he wanted so badly to tell Harry how amazing he felt, how his big red lips felt like pillows around him, how he was a second away from exploding but he couldn’t speak…he just threw his hand into Harry’s curls and he knew then to open up his throat, a second later Lou let out a scream of Harry’s name as he came hard into his mouth. Harry sucked him through his orgasm and climbed back up Lou’s body to kiss his mouth.  
Lou began to pet Harry as he complimented him, “You make me feel so good baby, your mouth is sinful.” And Harry smiled up at Lou with still dilated eyes and took Lou’s hand into his own until they reached his cock.  
"And you said I was overly excited this morning…" Lou said with a sly grin, and took his mouth down to Harry without warning, he knew he could make him cum like this, but he had another plan in mind, so he ran his tongue along the younger boys length, taking his time and living for the way Harry moaned his name, but before he got too close he moved his body up and towards the nightstand.

"I don’t think I can handle that again yet babe," Harry said with a disappointed look.   
“Honey this isn’t for me, it’s for you.” Lou replied as he slicked the lube around Harry’s cock before getting a little on his own fingers and opening himself up. Harry’s jaw dropped as he saw how quickly Lou was ready for him, how hot he looked preparing himself while Harry had to do nothing but sit and watch. This was a version of Harry’s heaven, and within moments he was in another version, one where Lou slid down onto him, bottoming out in one swift motion while his tightness enveloped Harry’s cock. Harry opened his eyes wide and allowed Lou to see the pleasure all over his face. He managed a smile before pulling up to allow Harry re entry and Harry took it with delight as he held on to Lou's shoulders and thrust up hard, hitting his prostate and Lou nearly collapsed on him right then but Harry's arms caught him and his lips covered him in kisses and Lou began to circle his hips and take Harry's thrusts again. Harry moaned his name and Louis let Harry's slip out of his mouth in unison, there were no more than a few moans and screams before they both came together. Louis untouched and Harry feeling deeper into Lou than he'd ever been. After their breathing evened back out Lou removed himself from Harry's lap and fell back onto the bed while Harry took his usual place under his arm, curling against him like a kitten almost purring with pleasure.  
"Louis that was incredible, thank you." Harry mouthed before he fell back into sleep, moments later Lou joined hm in dreams...they awoke again and then sun had already gone to rest, this time Harry was up first studying Lou: he looked up and counted his eye lashes, watched the way his cheeks were still pink, full of love, he traced his lips gently with the tip of his finger and placed his hand over Lou's heart, he felt the sweet slow beats beneath his fingers and thanked God for that moment, for the ability to love Lou in silence, without cameras, without the band, without management or paparazzi, just the two of them melted into one being, one spirit, and so much love Harry thought it might crush him.  
"Curly I can feel you picking me apart with your eyes." Lou said, his own eyes still shut. Harry giggled and laid his head back down to is chest and Lou spoke again.  
"It almost hurts sometime doesn't it? It almost crushes your chest when you think of how much love we have, how lucky we got to find each other. Our plan was written in the stars my love, I was destined to find you, you were destined to become my home."Harry felt a hand catch the tear that was about to fall from his eye; and as soon as his tear was caught, one of Lou's fell onto Harry's forehead. Harry smiled and kissed Lou's heart, and in that moment the only thing they knew was love.


	6. Through The Dark

The boys were back stage, fifteen minutes until they went on, fifteen minutes of butterflies and nervous laughter and a few minutes of silence in between where they all just took a bit to be thankful, to get composed, to live in the dream they'd created. The last fifteen minutes before show time were the best time, getting to exist in all of those emotions that never went away, that never would. Liam stood up and shook his body all around, Zayn and Niall looked up at him and laughed, he did this before every show, the boys would laugh for a moment before jumping up to join him. Harry looked over at Lou, sitting next to him on the couch and smiled, Lou returned the gesture with an added nod towards the hallway and within seconds they were both up walking to the empty corridor. The boys found the closest open door and peeked in before realizing it was uninhabited, they looked over their shoulders and quickly shut the door behind them once they'd found their way inside. Harry went to find a light switch but Lou stopped him with a firm grab of his arm, turning the switch on with the other.

"I have missed you so fucking much." He said almost pathetically, "I just need you for a minute..."

There was no time for Harry to reply, not when Louis was on his knees in front of him, unbuttoning his tight black jeans, pulling down his underwear that were black and silky, probably one of the surprises he had for Louis after the show, and attaching his mouth to envelop Harry entirely. Louis could tease Harry, run small circles around his cock with his tongue, kiss the tip sensually while running his hand along his length slowly, he could move his mouth down to Harry's thighs and kiss and bite the skin until little bruises appeared, they both loved that...he could make Harry call him daddy before he'd touch him again...he could, but he wouldn't. See, right now, this was dirty and quick and Harry was thrusting into Lou's mouth while he gagged and within seconds he was exploding down Lou's throat as he looked up at him with his blown out eyes hidden under long eye lashes. Harry's legs shook as he steadied himself against the wall while Lou sucked around his length one last time, trying to make sure he'd swallowed it all and then climbed up his body, showering his exposed abdomen with kisses and before he knew it Harry had his fingers twisted in his hair, pulling him up and kissing his mouth fiercely. Lou whimpered into Harry's mouth, making tiny noises that drove Harry crazy and they kissed until they thought they'd lose the ability to breathe; but Lou would never pull away first, so Harry had to be the one to slip his tongue out of Lou's mouth and back into his own, pull his body away from the warmth and friction between them, and look into Lou's beautiful eyes before he let out a reluctant sigh. Louis knew they had to go, it was show time and while he loved it, loved putting on a performance, loved the fans, he wanted to be underneath Harry more in that moment and it must have been written all over his face because Harry grabbed Lou and pushed him against the door, dropped to his own knees and gave Lou a smirk followed by a kiss to the hip.

"Did you really think I was gonna let you leave this room without getting you off first?" He said, almost speaking into Lou's cock, before he took his length down his throat, he bobbed his head up and down and pressed his tongue flat against the underside of Lou, he braced himself against Lou's legs as Lou brought his hands down to tangle in Harry's hair, he gave him a small nod and allowed Lou to fuck into his face..."Shit Harry, I'm..." and before he could get another word out Harry met his final thrust with an excited move forward as he swallowed Louis down his throat, warm and quickly and Louis swore he heard Harry moan as he licked him up before bringing a kiss to his lips.  
"It shouldn't turn me on as much as it does to watch you get off," Harry started, "But the look on your face when you lose control sends me over the edge."

Lou kissed him again, and again, and one more time for measure before they helped each other clean up and walk into the hallway, they greeted the boys with about 4 minutes to go and they all shared a laugh at the sight of their blown pupils and bright red lips...  
"You two can never quit, can you?" Zayn asked with a laugh  
"Can you blame me, look at this ass." Harry replied giving Lou a light smack...  
The boys stood in a circle and danced a little, sang a little, and told each other how thankful they were to be together, how much they loved the others, and then the beginning notes of the song began.  
The boys rushed the stage, hearing an uproar from the crowd, girls were singing along already, crying, screaming, the lights were almost blinding but they were all so high, high from the rush and the music and the passion, they were doing what they loved, with who they loved. They went through their set list and the show was perfect, they'd sit down and chat with the audience between songs, they'd laugh and tell jokes, and they thanked their fans, for allowing them to get to follow their dreams. The fans were all taking to the new songs quite well, screaming the lyrics back at the band which always made Harry smile, seeing a crowd of people be so moved by their music, it was beautiful.  
It was time for 'Little Things' which was a ballad written between Lou and Harry, they'd tried to deny it, they probably still would, but everyone knew the truth, it was painfully evident not only from the lyrics, but from the stage presence between H & L for the duration of the song.  
Lou would look over at Harry before he began singing, giving him a little wink and then beginning his verse, Harry joined him for a line of the song before his own solo where Lou would watch Harry on the big screen almost in tears, Harry was the most beautiful person he'd ever known, not only on the outside, but where it really counted, his heart, Harry was flawless. The rest of the show went alarmingly well, no one missed a beat and after their final bow the boys ran off stage, and all joined in for a group hug, the light between them all was insane, they were so happy as they picked up their things and got into their separate cars, they'd all be taken back to the hotel separately before joining up in a room to drink and celebrate. 

They all got to their rooms for a quick shower and one by one started trickling into Lou's room, Harry arrived first and they kissed without stopping until the next knock on the door came, the rest of the boys were standing there together and described that they'd given the boys a few extra minutes alone, just in case. Harry laughed and welcomed them in while Lou poured the first round of drinks. They spend hours there talking and laughing, telling jokes and stories, just enjoying each others company. Niall started doing impressions but fell down within seconds of his first one and Zayn suggested they head to bed before things got out of control, Liam laughed as he helped carry Zayn out of the room after Harry had made sure the hallway was clear.  
"You coming?" Zayn asked, but immediately realized there's no way in hell Harry was leaving a drunk Louis alone.  
"Keep the noise down tonight mates, we'll all probably crash in the room next door and I could go without hearing you call Louis daddy until you can't breathe tonight lad."  
Harry didnt even bother with a come back, he just locked the door and finished off his own drink before walking into the bedroom where Lou was digging around in his suitcase.  
"What are you looking for babe? Harry asked over his shoulder.  
"just that head scarf I bought you love." Louis replied with a dark undertone to his voice  
Harry took his arm around Lou and moved a few shirts before uncovering it, it was a deep red and it looked so good tied around Harry's head, it looked even better wrapped around his wrists though and Harry knew that was the purpose of it tonight.

"Baby, can you crawl onto the bed, please." Lou asked  
Harry nodded up at Lou, not making a sound, just lying on his back awaiting further instruction. Louis climbed over top of Harry and began moving his shirt up gently with his fingers, kissing every new piece of skin he exposed. Harry leaned up on his shoulders, arching his back so Lou could pull the shirt up, he rolled his weight down and lifted his shoulders off the mattress, not wanting to sit up, he hadn't been instructed to. He closed his eyes when Lou brought the shirt over his face before pressing kisses into his mouth, then his jawline, then his neck and his collar bone, he looked up at Harry and his eyes were dilated already, he brought Harry's hands above his head and tied them to the headboard. Harry hid a grin and a sigh as he tugged on the scarf to make sure Harry couldn't move.  
"Do you like this baby? Like being tied up and waiting for me to wreck?"  
"Yes I love this...daddy" and with that Lou lost it, he dove into to Harry, leaving bites and bruises all over his hips as he worked his jeans and underwear down his legs, this pair was red and it made Lou crazy to pull them off, they looked just as good as the scarf did around Harry's wrists. He saw how hard Harry was as his cock came up and laid across his stomach, he wanted to devour him, but this didn't have to be quick like it did earlier, this was a situation where Louis could take his time, and he planned to.  
He started off by biting into Harry's thighs, rubbing his hand up and down his cock until he was slick with pre come and thrusting his hips into Lou's hand, he stopped and moved off of Harry's body though, he was getting too needy. He kneeled above Harry, just hovering, close enough to touch but Harry couldn't, he'd move his mouth down to Harry, allow him to feel his warm breath against his skin, and move it away.  
" 'm sorry daddy," Harry began, "I won't move again."  
Lous looked down at him and smiled maliciously, he had Harry right where he wanted him, and the need on his face showed how much he liked being there, having this power, this control, made Lou lose his mind. He reached over and found the bottle of lube he'd got especially for this evening, and opened it but he heard Harry make a sound before he poured it on to his hand.  
"What was that, baby?" he asked, genuinely curious.  
"Daddy, can I, can I have your fingers in my mouth?" Harry asked so politely it gave Louis chills.  
He moved his hand up to Harry's mouth and traced his lips first, he brought his tongue around his fingers, sucking them allowing his cheeks to hollow out which sent a second wave through Louis. He pulled his fingers out and they were dripping, he looked down at Harry like he was a God and took his hand down to Harry's opening, he massaged it first slowly but Harry was twisting underneath him and looking hungry so he instead thrust two fingers in quickly, which caused Harry to throw his head back and moan out Lou's name. He arched his back and looked up at Lou.  
"Use your words, baby." Lou commanded.  
"Daddy, I want more..faster...harder..."  
Lou thrust another finger in and curled them up around the soft spot that made Harry lose it, his body was shaking and his knees fell open against the mattress beneath them. Louis continued to fuck Harry with his hand, while Harry stayed as still as he could, his hips couldn't buck up if he tried though as Lou was holding them down with force, making sure Harry felt every move of his fingers inside of him.  
"You look so good baby, so good for me."  
"Daddy please, I'm ready...I wanna be a good boy for you, wanna make you feel good."  
Lou removed his fingers from Harry and he moaned in their absence, but immediately felt Lou line up to his opening. He looked down at Harry who was looking back up at him with needy eyes, and thrust himself into Harry, bottoming out immediately. Harry screamed his name and arched his back and Lou was wrecked just by this one moment, just by that one noise, just by the look in Harry's eyes as he brought his head back up to find Lou's. He thrust into him again, harder this time, and again and again and Harrys legs were shaking and Louis was as deep inside him as he could be, thrusting against his prostate and the only sounds in the room aside from their bodes slamming against each other were the muffled moans coming from both of them, Harry's a little louder and more defined, "Daddy, daddy...daddy" and Lou couldn't even form words to reply. He felt the heat all around his body settle in his stomach and he knew he was close, Harry was always right on path with Louis and within seconds of Lou's release, Harry's happened. Lou kept fucking into Harry through both of their orgasms before collapsing on top of him. Harry was wrecked, his body still covered in chills, shaking beneath Louis as Lou pulled himself up to untie Harry's hands. He walked to the bathroom and wet a towel, making sure it was warm enough to soothe Harry, and returned to the bed quickly to clean off his abdomen, wipe the come from his chest and with the opposite side, dry his face and push his matted hair backwards. Harry looked so vulnerable, but so in love in the moments after his orgasm, he was sort of floating above himself and Louis always brought him back down, he cuddled Harry in his arms, playing with his hair and whispering how good he was in his ears.  
"You're beautiful baby, you did so good, you are so good, fuck Harry, you're perfect you know that? You're perfect and you're all mine and I love you now and forever baby, I am so in love with you."  
Harry came back down and curled into Lou's embrace. "I love you too boo bear" he replied and within moments they were both asleep; chests rising and falling together.

The next few days of shows went well, there were no places they had to be, no interviews, no Eleanor... but that changed when they had 3 days off, they were told they'd be able to fly in anyone they wanted to see. For Niall, Liam, and Zayn that meant people they'd been missing from home, for Louis and Harry, that meant absolutely nothing. They wanted to spend these 3 days together, but management had other plans and they came through loud and clear when Louis woke up to an empty bed Thursday morning. He shook his head and tried to remember if he'd just been dreaming that he fell asleep with Harry in his arms, but the tv was on and the home screen to 'The Notebook' was on replay and he knew it hadn't been a dream at all. He reached over to his phone and dialed Harry's number but it went straight to voicemail. Louis decided to take a quick shower, maybe he'd get out and Harry would be back with breakfast, the place they'd rented out for a few days was lacking in the nutrition department and Harry had been on a health kick. Louis was rinsing the shampoo out of his hair when he heard the large door shut and a few bags hit the ground. He quickly turned off the water, threw a towel around his waist and ran to kiss Harry...but it wasn't Harry who walked in the door.

"Miss me?" Eleanor asked  
"What are you doing here, El?" Louis answered a little more disappointed than he meant to.  
"We have a big day ahead of us babe, you might want to hurry up and get ready, I'm starving and paps are meant to meet us in an hour."

It was then Louis realized Harry's phone hadn't died at all, he'd turned it off, probably been told by management to leave Louis alone for the next 3 days...his heart sank, he knew what happened the last time Lou and El had 'an interrupted date', he didn't want to cause Harry that kind of pain again. He shook his head, tried to free it from the thoughts that were eating away at him, and walked to get dressed. 

Lunch went smoothly enough, the paps were waiting outside the rather large window Louis and Eleanor just happened to get sat near, clicking photos any time they so much as moved closer to each other.  
"Feed me a bite of your desert." Eleanor told Louis and to avoid an argument he obliged. El leaned into it more than she needed to, after she took her bite she kissed his cheek and leaned her head on his shoulder, the paps would eat that up, and it was eating away at Louis. He imagined Harry sitting on his bed looking at photos that were being posted and it brought tears to his eyes, he didn't want them to get out, he didn't even want to be here. He just wanted to shut the world out and indulge in everything that Harry was and was always going to be to him. El noticed Lou getting caught up in his own thoughts and she left money on the table and grabbed his arm. It was time for part two of their big day, shopping at the little boutiques that let the paps capture multiple photos of the two of them, along with fans who's photos would reach the internet even faster. Harry hadn't responded to any of his texts and Louis was growing more worried by the moment, but he knew he'd get in trouble if his photos didn't show the smiling happy Louis, so he put on a brave face and spent 3 hours watching El stuff more into bags than he even had in his wardrobe. The sun was starting to set and Louis was getting tired, they decided to skip dinner and order a pizza, maybe pop in a movie and go to sleep.  
It was 9:30 when Lou's phone finally went off, it was a text from Harry with an attached image, Louis had his hand at the small of Eleanor's back and was whispering into her ear, he didn't even waste time trying to explain what was actually happening in the photo, he knew Harry wouldn't believe him. He sent back a photo of Harry sleeping that he'd captured when he woke up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, his hair was spread across his face at first so Louis moved it so he could see his eyes and his cheeks before he snapped the photo. There wasn't much light, but what was there illuminated Harry's features, and with the photo he sent a simple, 'I love you.'

Harry texted back an hour later...it was a simple reply, but one that Louis could live with for now.  
"I love you too Louis, please check underneath your pillow for me, I left you something."

Eleanor had fallen asleep on the opposite end of the sofa, she had a blanket covering her so Louis decided to let her stay there for the evening. He turned the tv off and tiptoed to the bedroom, shut the door, and reached underneath his pillow, he felt the piece of paper immediately and pulled it out, written small on the front was 'Louis xx'. 

"My Love,

Management called and I've been given strict orders to busy myself for the next 3 days, I assume this means you'll be spending your time with Eleanor and while I love you so much, it hurts too much for me to talk to you while I know you'll be with her. Waking up to you this morning was heaven, seeing you asleep when I turned my neck up was everything, you are light to me Louis Tomlinson, and I know these next three days are going to be hard without you, but please try to have fun. I wish I hated Eleanor, but I can't hate her if you have to like her, and I don't think he heart is all that bad, but this letter isn't about any of that, it's for you to read tonight, tomorrow night, any time in between when you're missing me because I am already missing you insane amounts.

Please know that you're it for me, you are my rock, my solid, you are the thing in my life that keeps me grounded, my anchor. You are the guiding light that brings me home, you are my home. You are love personified, you are the thoughts in my head late at night, the ones that keep me safe. You are the green of the grass Louis, you are the blue in the skies, you are the rhythm in which my heart keeps beating, you are in my veins. You are more than who I hoped to find, more than I ever expected to hold, you are the sun and the moon and the rain and the wind and you are graceful through it. I love the way you exist, from the moment you wake up in the mornings and stretch your long arms above your head before the come back down to cradle me, to the way you look when we get off stage and the adrenaline is pulsing through you, I even love the way you look at me when I do something that frustrates you, because it is with the most kind eyes, the most loving soul. I am head over heels in love with you and I always will be. 

Please don't let your mind stray, I am not going anywhere, I may not be able to kiss you goodnight, but I can still feel you on my lips and I hope you can feel me on yours. If I could be, I'd throw rocks at your window tonight like the cheesy 80's movies said I should do, but I know I can't so I'm leaving you this instead, I picked up some chocolate almond milk for you, it's in the fridge, and I left my headscarf in the bathroom. I miss you so much it hurts.

I love you now, I will love you every day for the rest of forever.

Yours always, I mean it,

XXXX Harry."

Louis held the note tighter than he'd held anything before it, and ran to grab Harry's headscarf, he curled around himself in bed and fell asleep feeling unusually calm, he couldn't touch Harrys sweet face tonight, but he could feel him all around him, and tonight, that was enough.


	7. You don't know you're beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I didn't know what I was going to do with this chapter, then Harry tweeted that he studied rainbows and this happened.

My mom used to tell me I smelt like summer”, he started, “I’d be running around outside playing for hours, I wouldn’t come in for a drink or a snack or anything at all. And around 6 shed finally yell loud enough for me to hear that supper was ready and I’d run back to our house and she’d be waiting on the back porch for me smiling and I’d jump into her arms Lou, even when I got tall, and she’d bury her face into my neck and breathe in deep and tell me I smelt of summer; she called me her sunshine baby.” 

Lou looked over at Harry and examined him in that moment, he was sure if he’d closed his eyes he would have been able to see it in his own mind but he couldn’t shake what he was seeing now instead; the boy he loved lying in their bed being vulnerable. He looked like he was living out the best memory of his entire life and he couldn’t stop smiling, which made it impossible for Lou to stop too. He reached over and pulled Harry into him and pressed his face into his curls, they laid there fusing into one person for what seemed like an eternity and the soundtrack to their moment was Harry telling more stories about his childhood. Lou learned more about Harry that lazy afternoon than he ever dreamed of, and he couldn’t wait to spend a day outside with the younger boy now, hoping to get his own glimpse of the sunshine baby.

"You're the most beautiful boy I've ever met Harry Styles, do you have any idea how much I love you? How much I get lost in you? You go to the places you tell about in your stories, I love watching you talk to me....I swear Haz I could listen to you talk forever."

So Lou got to do just that, Harry laid in his lap and Lou put his hands in his curls and he talked, he told him new stories, old stories, he told him stories that made them both laugh, then stories that made him cry, and before they knew it hours had passed and the day was turning into evening and the only thing that made them realize this was a loud rumble from Harry's tummy that reminded them they'd forgotten to eat all day.

"Come on boo bear, let's shower and get a pizza, or three."

"One of these days we're going to lose our awesome metabolism Harry," Lou replied.

"Just an excuse to see you in the gym." Harry winked. 

Lou turned the shower on, got it to the perfect temperature so Harry would walk right in and be comfortable, and he washed his hair, he took his fingers in slowly through Harrys curls, rubbing against his scalp with pressure but tenderness. The way he touched Harry told a story, how gently he washed his hair, how he took their loofa down his back and followed it with kisses from his wet lips, he loved Harry, he loved him so much sometimes he thought he might break apart, literally fall to pieces because it was too much. Their showers always took a while, but they were some of the best moments Lou had in a day, he never wanted to get out, they'd both stay in until the water was cold. Lou would get out first, grab towels and put one around Harry's body, not wanting him to be cold, not wanting chills to grace his perfect skin. They walked into the bedroom and Lou sat Harry down on the bed before picking out his clothes and dressing the younger boy. He may have towered over Lou in height, but his heart and his soul and his spirit, they were full of youth and they always made Harry just seem...smaller somehow to Lou, he always felt like he needed to protect him. By the time Lou got his own clothes on, Harry asked if they could order pizza in rather than going out to eat it and of course Lou agreed, that meant more time to just be close, and hopefully hear more of Harry's stories.

The delivery man came within an hour, and Harry left him a generous tip, he smiled graciously and walked away, not wanting to seem like too big of a fan. Harry brought the pizza boxes to the table in front of the couch and sat down, they'd eat the pizza out of the box tonight, drink a few beers and watch a movie, Louis brought the drinks over to join Harry on the couch but before he could get in their usual arrangement, Harry pulled him down into his lap so the older boy was lying across him and he took his hands into Lou's hair this time. He played with it as they ate and the movie played along in the background, neither of them really paying it any attention. Harry had talked all day and he wanted to hear Lou's stories now, and he was going to make sure Lou felt comfortable telling them. Lou's childhood hadn't been bad by any means, his mom was his best friend and he'd been pretty blessed, but there were just some things that didn't go the way he wanted them to, and instead of talking about them, he just liked to be the one to listen. Harry asked him to talk about his favorite summer, and Lou told him a few little pieces of it, not divulging much detail...just that they went to the park a lot, they had some picnics and one night they watched fireworks and his mom slept outside with him. His face lit up when he talked about his mom, but never as much when he talked about his own past, Harry wanted Lou to love who he was, to love the circumstances that had made him the man he loved, so he had an idea. He continued playing with Lou's hair until he fell asleep and Harry moved gently out from underneath him to grab a drawing pad and some colors.

Lou told him in the shower that the wanted Harry to be his sunshine baby and Harry laughed, but when he realized that Lou was serious he kissed his face and told him of course, they could spend hours outside together one day and Louis could fall asleep breathing him in. Harry decided now, after their conversation that Lou would be his rainbow, someone who was always there after a storm, someone who was hiding when the rain fell, someone who was a sign of hope and strength and a continued life.

He drew a rainbow at the top of the paper, blending the colors together beautifully as he smudged along the lines with his fingers and left little prints like glimmering lights along the edges of the paper; the he grabbed his felt tip pen and took to writing something special for the man he loved.

To My Rainbow,

You’re red; fiery and passionate, loving and fierce, you’re vibrant and inviting, you envelop me in this space where everything is more. 

You’re orange; you’re warm and intoxicating, safe, you make me think of fall and warmth and security, you make me feel at home.

You're yellow; you're sunshine, literal sunshine, you're a smile on a bad day, a star in the sky, you're loud but never too much, you're inspiring, you almost sparkle sometimes Lou. You're the motivation I need when my days are long.

You're green; you're fresh and new, you're calming and natural, you're like spring, starting over. You've felt like home to me since the day I laid eyes on you, you're my new beginning.

You're blue; you're soothing, you're soft, you're like water, like the sky, you're vast and important and you steal my attention, you're not the sad kind of blue though, and even when you are you're beautiful.

You're indigo; you're deep and unexplored, you're the calm before the storm, you're comforting yet still a bit dangerous, you're the color that signals peace and unrest all at once.

You're violet; you're exotic and beautiful, you're new and refreshing, you're the soft place I land when everything falls apart, you're royal without knowing it, you're velvet and soft, you're the place I want to end up for my entire life.

Love, Your Sunshine Baby.

 

Harry was quite proud of himself, for coming up with a corny little way to show Lou how important he really was to him, and instead of allowing Lou to keep peacefully sleeping, he coughed a little too loudly and plopped back down on the couch to disturb his peaceful partner enough so that he'd wake up. Lou rubbed his eyes and turned his head in front of him and looked down, he saw the piece of paper lying on his abdomen and picked it up. His lips formed a smile as he looked at the sweet note from Harry and his eyes teared up and he saw himself in a new light, a beautiful light, the way Harry really did see him, and it was everything. Lou grabbed Harry's hand and drug him into the bedroom where he told Harry he had a surprise for him that he'd been saving for the right time and this was it. He asked Harry to lay on the bed with his shirt off and he kissed his lips passionately before running to his suitcase to grab a box.

Harry was impatiently waiting, lying on his belly when Lou finally had everything spread out on the bed, "You can look now baby," Lou said and Harry turned around and saw a lovely array of body paint lying around him. "I've been waiting to turn your back into a masterpiece, and today seems like the perfect time for it, I want to paint you Harry...I want to use your perfect body as a canvas and I want to photograph it. I want to keep this memory forever and I finally know what should adorn your strong back, a rainbow." Louis smiled at Harry with tears in his eyes and began again, "I never saw myself as something so spectacular Harry, and then I met you, and you made me feel like I was something of value, and today, when I woke up and I read that note, God today was already perfect baby, I got to hear you get lost in your stories and see the smiles on your face as you talked about everything in the world that made you who you are, and I was so content just being with you, but you took the time, you took the time Harry to make me feel important too, to make me feel like I really am a rainbow to you, and I want to thank you Harry, this is the best way I know how."

"Louis Tomlinson, you can paint my body any day, just so long as you know that you're everything to me, you're every color, you're every emotion, you're every silly poem I've ever read and every sappy movie we've ever watched and you're all of my smiles and some of my tears and you're my past, you're my present, and you're my future."

They kissed, they kissed like nothing in the world was happening except the two of them coming together for an embrace, Lou licked at Harry's lip before he was granted access to explore his mouth, he kissed him like it was the first time, taking it all in, breathing him in, and Harry kissed him back with the same fervor, like he needed to taste every part of Lou or he might explode.

"Lay on your stomach for me darling, I'd like to start now." and Harry did as he was asked.

Louis took his time running his fingers over Harry's broad back, he was so strong Lou though, so perfect, his skin held the pigment of the colors beautifully and he kept running his fingers over it, it looked like chalk but it sparkled somehow, Louis was sure Harry glittered anyway, but especially today. He spread the red across his shoulders, the orange right beneath, the yellow after that. The green began in the middle of his back, followed by the blue, the indigo which was his favorite to spread across his back because of how perfect it looked on his skin tone, and the violet, the warm violet that made Lou's eyes hurt it was so beautiful. He stood up and took Harry in, let himself spend minutes studying Harry's body, looking at his canvas and smiling. He took his phone out and snapped a photo, then he grabbed the camera and took his time taking a few, photography was a hobby Louis kept mostly for himself and Harry, and it was because of moments like this, these moments he wanted to remember but selfishly wanted to keep for just the two of them.

Harry asked to see the finished product and Louis handed him his phone, he opened it up and saw the photo and his eyes filled with tears.

"It's perfect Lou, it's you, it's everything that you are spread all across me, across the part of me I get to press against you every night while you throw your silly long arms around me. You're the color in my world Lou, when everything else seems dark, when I don't see anything except black and white surrounding me, I look at you, I just look at you and I see it all again, I see every perfect color there is and they all sit within you."

Lou couldn't take it, he felt his heart doing it again, swelling so large he thought it might literally break apart, and Harry sensed it because he got up on his knees, brought Louis into him, and kissed him softly. 

They made love there on the bed, Louis laid Harry on his back and took his fingers into Harry's mouth while he licked them, soaked them before kissing them as Lou pulled them out and moved his hand down to Harry's opening. Harry moaned as his first finger pushed in, followed soon after by his second and third. Lou scissored his fingers and Harry let Lou's name escape his lips more times than he could count. "Lou, Lou, God you feel so good please, I need you, I need to feel you inside me." Lou pulled his fingers out and Harry pouted at their absence but was immediately relieved as Lou pressed into Harry slowly. Their day had been so beautiful Louis didn't want this to be something rough or rushed, he wanted them to take their time, to enjoy these moments. Louis pushed all the way inside of Harry as his back arched and his moans continued, he moved in and out of Harry slowly; only thrusting in hard to hit Harry's prostate and send him into shakes of total bliss, he wanted Harry to come untouched, it was the thing that sent Lou into a frenzy, but he didn't want Harry to be aching for it tonight, so he moved in slowly again, kissing all over Harry's neck and collar bone, whispering sweetly into his ear how beautiful he was, how important he was, how much he gave Louis strength, how much he motivated him, and Harry was moaning more now, getting off on the nice things Louis was filling his ears and mind with. He felt Harry tense up beneath him and he knew he was close so Lou brought his hand down on Harry's cock and moved up and down, it only took a few moments before he was coming all over own chest and the look of ecstasy on his face made Lou's orgasm hit also, he shook and tensed up and came in Harry, filling him with warmth and he felt so good, Harry tensed up around Lou's throbbing cock. He thrust in a few more times, riding out his orgasm and he fell on top of Harry, gently kissing his chest and telling him how much he loved him. Only a few moments passed before Louis was asleep and Harry rolled him over on his side, got up from the bed and looked down at the sheet, he saw a rainbow of colors against the white fabric and he saw Louis lying in it.

My rainbow baby, he thought to himself, and he hoped the image would never leave his mind.


	8. Does He Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took a few days, I knew I needed to mix it up and add a little angst/drama and it hurt my heart to write it so I just kind of put it off for a bit. I'd also like to think my beta Cecilia for helping me write this and offering to help me out with the rest of wherever this goes! :)

Harry was carrying his bags back to the hotel, 3 days off, 3 days with Louis and the boys, all deciding to go to London and enjoy some free time together full of FIFA, beer, and fun. Harry bought a few things from the market to add to the collection of trinkets he'd gotten for himself and Lou on various stops during their tour, he had a spring in his step, things were going so well and he just couldn't wait to go wake up the older boy he loved, the one who'd sleep all day if he was allowed. Things were off when he walked into their hotel room though, Lou's bags were already packed and by the door and he heard arguing coming from the bedroom they shared.

"I said I don't want to go on a fucking getaway, I want to spend time with the lads." Lou yelled, then fell silent for a moment before beginning again, "Well maybe you're right, I guess I don't have a fucking choice in the matter but you're awful, you're all awful and I know exactly why you're doing this and it's bullshit. Bullshit." 

Harry heard the sound of a phone hit the wall followed by tears and he dropped his bags, along with his smile, and went to comfort Louis. He knew in his mind before he even heard Lou speak that their 3 days together had just been cancelled.

"Harry, baby," Lou began, "I just got a call from Modest, they don't want to let me stay. They're not going to let me stay. I have to go away and I have to go with El, Harry I am so sorry, I don't want to go...I tried everything and they wouldn't listen and..."

He was interrupted by soft lips on his and a hand against his lower back pulling him in, the face pressed against his was tear stained as well and it hurt Lou's heart too much, he pulled away and shook his head, kissing Harry's forehead and pulling him in close, allowing him to be the one that cried for a while. There was a knock at the door 10 minutes later, Harry stood up and answered it, there in front of him stood Eleanor with her hair loosely curled and some tight jeans on and Harry wished she'd stop trying so hard. Louis emerged from the bathroom with a smile on his face, trying not to let Eleanor know how much he was dreading this, and that only made Harry feel worse, he'd just been crying in his arms and now he looked like an excited kid on Christmas. 

"We get to go to the beach Lou," she sounded so elated Harry wanted to make her stop talking, "We've got an ocean front room and they've bought us new clothes and swim suits and we've got dinner reservations each night, come on babe, our plane leaves in 30!" Eleanor looked at Harry and flashed him a smile before walking out of the room, Harry looked over at Lou who bent down to get his bags and shrugged.

"I'll miss you every day." Lou said as he kissed Harry's cheek, but that wasn't enough, so Harry pulled him in by his shirt, put his fingers in Lou's hair and placed a passionate kiss against his lips, it took Lou's breath away.

"Don't forget about me." He mouthed to Lou as he watched him walk out the door.

Harry picked up his things, packed his bags and met the boys in the lobby, the look on Zayn's face said they already knew they'd be traveling without Lou so Harry didn't have to speak, he just curled into Zayn's arms as they walked to the car. The plane took the boys to London and in a matter of hours and they were drinking beer, eating pizza and laughing, trying to keep Harry as occupied as they could... knowing if they could get through the first night, the next couple days would be easier on him. Liam suggested they take a dip in the pool so Harry sent a quick text to Lou, 'Hope you're having fun, we're going for a swim so we won't be back until later, love you.'

The boys let the ret of their day get away from them and before they knew it the sun was starting to set and their skin was starting to prune but the beers and pizza were still there so they kept going with it, spent the remaining hours of the day under the sun, and they felt great, they enjoyed being on the road together but there was something extra special about being home together too, they loved it, no rules, no one telling them where to be and when to be there. Niall was the first one to go inside, the rest of the boys went up behind him and took turns showering off before gathering back in the living room for more video games. No one checked their phones until Harry hit him that it'd been hours since he'd talked to Louis, he wondered how much he was dreading it already, so he decided to check to see if he had a text back yet, to his dismay, his phone showed no missed alerts, he sat it back down and tried to shake the weird feeling out of his head, moments more went by before Liam checked his own phone, seeing something that made his skin crawl a bit and sitting it back down, but the scene didn't go unnoticed.

"What was that Li?" Harry asked.

"Nothing man, just a photo on twitter," Liam immediately regretted saying it because within seconds Harry's phone was back in his hand, "Maybe you shouldn't look, you know it won't help anything..." but Liam was too late, Harry had pulled up the social media site and immediately saw the photo being retweeted by multiple people.

Louis standing in rolled up jeans, a clean pressed button up shirt, hand around Eleanor's waist low enough to graze her bum, and caught up in the middle of a very passionate looking lip lock. There were other photos too, paps had caught them holding hands, El whispering in his ear and Lou sporting a cheeky grin, and before Harry could scroll any farther Zayn snatched his phone, saying he'd text Lou himself but Harry wasn't going to sit around and mope about photos all weekend. Niall walked into the kitchen and brought out the bourbon and the beers turned into mixed drinks and the mixed drinks became shots and they were drunk before they realized it. The video games went away and they all put in a funny movie before falling asleep in various parts of the living room, this was the first time Harry wasn't sneaking to bed with Lou, and Zayn knew he'd be lonely so he brought Harry in for a cuddle and the two remaining boys who'd stayed awake finally fell asleep too.

The next morning they all went to play footie, went to a local pub and grabbed greasy burgers and a few more beers and after that they went to see a film in theaters, staying busy enough but still relaxing. Niall was the next one to see a leaked pap photo of Lou and Eleanor, this time they were at the beach walking in water that came up to their knees, Lou had his fingers laced in hers and she had her head leaned into the crook of his neck. They knew it had to happen, but maybe they were all beginning to think of Harry and how hurt he'd be when he saw the new photos, how hurt he'd continue to be through all of this...and it's not like Modest hadn't offered to find him a steady girlfriend too, but Harry didn't want it, he didn't want to pretend to love someone when his heart was so clearly taken by someone else, so they said they'd sell him as a womanizer, anything to keep him from looking at Lou with those heart eyes. Harry was happy in this moment though, with 3 of his best friends, laughing so hard his face hurt, and for Zayn, Liam, and Niall that was enough...of course...until it wasn't.  
A song came on in the bar and it was seconds before it registered in Harry's ears... 'If I don't say this now, I will surely break...as I'm leaving the one I wanna take. Forgive the urgency, but hurry up and wait...my heart has started to separate'...and it was like a switch that changed everything. The smile on his face fell into a longing grin and he was looking around a little bit lost...it only took the chorus before Harry had tears welling up in his eyes and Liam was paying the tab and they boys were headed back home. Zayn would let Harry cry it out on the car ride back and Niall would hook up a game system and they'd let Harry win all night, that'd bring his spirits back up. The car ride was mostly silent aside from a few sniffles from Harry and the sound of Zayn's hand stroking up and down his back, until Niall looked over at Liam and asked him what he thought.

"I don't know how to ask this, but you don't really think..."

"Of course not," Liam cut Niall off, "This is just for management, just for our sake until the contract is over, maybe it won't even last that long, Harry is miserable and Lou is just putting on a good face."

"I know they keep saying it's for all of us," Niall began, "But none of us would care if they were out in the open..."

"We would't, but Modest isn't gonna risk our fan base for it, we may as well suck it up and let it go, they can be who they want to be around us."

And the silence came back, the quiet, and everything settled enough for them to get home and get Harry inside. He ran to his phone and checked for a message, the only alert he had on his phone was from Nick, and he was drunk so why not reply."

'Hey Nick, sorry I left my phone at the flat, what's up mate?' Harry typed out, a few seconds later a reply was upon his screen.

'I'm in the area, mind if I come by? It's been a while, I miss you lad.'

'Of course, you know where Li's place is, we'll leave the door unlocked.'

Within 15 minutes Nick Grimshaw was pulling in the drive and Harry realized he was more excited than he should have been. He blamed it on the alcohol and the bit of anger seeping through his veins at the lack of Louis, but Nick was walking in the door and the only thought Harry had was to run to him, and he did. He greeted him with a huge hug and the rest of the lads were a bit confused, but greeted him the same, why not have another mate along for the night, especially if it would keep Harry's spirits up. The night went along pretty smoothly, everyone riding out a nice buzz except Niall and Harry who were proper drunk, and Nick who was on his way there too. They had music playing and Liam had invited a few friends over and there was a nice feel about the atmosphere, everyone felt good and the laughs were strong, it was refreshing to just be there together. Then there was a loud roar as a girl shouted 'Time for body shots' loudly from the kitchen. Liam took one first, followed by Zayn and Niall but before Harry could pour his vodka on the girls abdomen Nick volunteered to be the body and Harry giggled while his cheeks turned red. Niall looked at him but Harry's smile was so big he decided to just let it go, what harm could a body shot do, right? 

An hour later Harry was pushed against a wall, hips thrust into Nicks, hands around his shoulders and Nick's were pulling at Harry's curls, his mouth pressed against Nick's as his tongue asked for entrance, licking his bottom lip, Nick opened his mouth wide and let Harry in to explore, their tongues colliding; it wasn't sweet like his kisses were with Lou, it was raw and needy and to be honest, Harry wasn't thinking about Lou at all, he had a body pressed against his and in the heat of the moment, in the haze of the alcohol, that was enough. 

Until it wasn't, but the moment it stopped being enough was a moment too late for Harry, because he woke up the next morning and rubbed his eyes, brought his arm to stretch out to the side and hit a body next to him, the body of Nick without a shirt on; back adorned with scratches. Harry started seeing pieces of the night in his mind again, and ran to the bathroom to get sick, he was a boy who could hold his own with alcohol usually, this sick came from a different place. He threw up until there was nothing left in his stomach, and then showered with water so hot it almost hurt...he just wanted to get the night off of him, get everything off of him that shouldn't be there, shouldn't have been there. He found himself crying as he got out of the shower and toweled off, he washed his face and brushed his teeth before he really got a good look at himself in the mirror, he had a bite directly above his collar bone, next to the area Lou usually placed them, but it was more red, shaped differently, this one was from Nick and he couldn't even think of it as a love bite, it was just something that marked him now, something that showed everyone that he'd made a great mistake. Nick woke up and walked into the bathroom, stood behind Harry and went to peck his cheek.  
"Nick, I'm with Louis." was all Harry could manage to say without his voice breaking under the weight of what that meant, he was with Louis, his heart was with Louis but last night...last night his body had been with Nick.

"Could have fooled me, Styles, especially with the way you acted last night," he joked, "I'll get my things and leave, you've got my number." With that he kissed Harry's shoulder and threw on his clothes and left the room, Niall was awake so he hollered a goodbye his way and a few seconds later Harry heard the large door shut. He dropped to his knees in the floor and began to panic, he wanted to forget, what was he going to tell the lads? What would he tell Lou? He picked himself up and decided to put on a game face, threw on a t-shirt with his favorite pair of skinny jeans and walked into the living room. Niall looked at him with a glare and glanced down towards his neck, Harry's shirt was open and you could see the bite left from Nick, all he could do was shake his head, and he turned around to finish making breakfast. 

"The rest of the boys will probably be up soon, you may want to put something else on, and I would ask you about it but the look on your face says everything I need to know. I don't know what's going on with you lad, but you know if Louis finds out you'll break his heart, I wish I could say I understood, but I don't...so I'm gonna keep quiet but we are going to talk about this later, I just don't want to be angry while we do it." Niall told Harry harshly, and with that Harry walked into the living room and pulled on the Green Bay hoodie he'd left at Liam's before the tour started, he walked into the kitchen and asked if he could help Niall but he refused the offer so Harry sat down with a cup of water and they waited there, in silence. 

"Yeah man he's right here, it's good to hear your voice, I know it sounds crazy but I miss you, can't wait to see you" Zayn talked into the phone before handing it to Harry. 

"They took Lou's phone while he is on vacation with El but he had a second and is using the phone in the hotel, he tried to call you but he said it went right to voicemail, so he dialed me next." Zayn handed the phone off to Harry and looked confused as he was met with a face that looked upset rather than excited to hear the voice on the other end.

"Hey baby, I am so sorry, they have my phone, they wouldn't let me keep it because they said it'd be obvious I was texting someone special and they kept talking about how i look at you like you hung the stars in the sky, so I haven't been able to talk to you at all and it's driving me mad. I miss you so much, I know you've probably seen the photos and I'm so sorry, you don't deserve to see that, or feel that pain...I've been sleeping on the sofa, I can't wait to get back to you, lay in a bed with you, feel you close to me again. I'm ranting I know but I just, I'm not me without you Harry, I love you so much...what have you been doing? Zayn said there was a party last night, I'm so jealous, I would have loved to be the boy on your arm when you were drinking, you get so handsy it makes me crazy. Okay I'll shut up, tell me about it..." Lou sounded so happy to be talking to him again, Harry wanted to slam the phone down right then. His heart sank as he tried to compose himself enough to reply...

"I miss you too Lou, a lot, I wish you were here, I never find a moment during the day that I'm not thinking about you, I love you so much, I saw one photo but the lads have had my phone, so I didn't see any others...I know why you do this though, I know you have to, I'm sorry Lou, I wish I could talk longer but I feel really sick and I think I'm going to run to the bathroom, Niall is standing beside me if you want to give him a shout really fast, I miss you," Harry replied tossing the phone towards Niall with tears swelling in his eyes, he felt it happening and before he knew it he was standing over the trashcan in the kitchen vomiting. 

"Sorry lad, Harry didn't even make it to the bathroom, he just got sick here in the kitchen...no, no don't ask them to let you come home, we'll take care of him just fine. Everything is okay Louis I know you'll be busy all day but you can call tonight and check in and if he's asleep we'll just tell you how he's doing. It's fine, we miss you a lot, love you too." Niall hung up and against his better judgement he went over to Harry and rubbed his back while he got sick in the trashcan and told him that it'd be okay, they'd figure it out.

The day passed on slowly, Liam woke to join them for breakfast and a movie, they ordered in for lunch since Harry didn't feel like leaving and through the uncomfortable silence it took about 3 hours for the other two boys to realize something was wrong with Harry and only about 3 seconds after that to conclude it had something to do with Nick. Harry sobbed on the couch as he told them that he'd hooked up with him last night, wondering what that meant for he and Louis, at first he thought he'd been really enjoying his time with El, and ignoring him, then this morning he finds out he had his phone taken away and he was miserable and that only made Harry feel worse, it was awful, no one knew what to say, but Zayn got up and left the room while Liam went to sit next to Harry and just let him cuddle in. Niall went to check on Zayn and Liam and found him fumbling around on the back porch..  
"This is going to break Lou's heart, it really is Niall and I don't know what Harry was thinking."

"He wasn't thinking Zayn, he was acting based off of his emotions and I know it's gonna hurt him but what can we do now? I'm not condoning his behavior but we can't ostracize him for it either"

"I texted Nick and told him to keep his distance and I don't love Harry any less, I just hate seeing people I care about be reckless with love." Zayn looked down a bit more full of emotion than Niall expected, and started to walk out of the room. He kept walking until he made it back to the living room and sat next to Liam and Harry. "I'm sorry I didn't handle that well, Harry you know i love you I just worry about you, and Louis...things are hard enough with the way Management has this whole thing set up, and now you're going to have to tell him about Nick and that's gonna break his heart, and I can see it's broken yours...I just, what were you thinking?"

Harry couldn't answer, because any answer he had would't mean a thing anyway, Louis deserved more than a guy who felt forgotten and cheated, he deserved more than the love of his life finding himself pressed against another man, and he sure as hell deserved more than having to come home and see the evidence on Harry's body. He took his hoodie off and revealed the bite to the boys and Zayn just shook his head, there was a thick tension in the room that was only silenced by the front door opening. There in the door way stood Louis wearing the biggest smile in the world, bright eyes, tan skin, and walking quickly towards Harry.

In a second his eyes were closed and Lou was pressing his lips to his mouth, whispering in between kisses how much he'd missed him, how much he loved him, and how happy he was to be home.

"I told them you were sick, I told them I was sick, I told them we needed a night to rest and go over a few things about tour and that I couldn't be expected to be on a flight home and then only have an hour tomorrow before we got back on the bus, so we packed up and El went home and I'm here and we can order pizza and play FIFA and I can hold you Harry and I just, I missed you lads."

Niall broke the silence by running up and jumping on Louis, and Harry scrambled to put his hoodie back on, not wanting that to be how Lou found out about last night. The rest of the boys snapped out of it and hugged him and told him to get comfortable and they'd order pizza, laughing about how they'd need to work out after all the shit food they ate all weekend. Lou kissed Harry's cheek again and carried his bags out of the room, he came back to the living room and scooted as close to Harry as he could get, and Harry nuzzled his head into Lou's neck, not wanting to ever leave that moment, not wanting to have to be honest about what Lou deserved to hear, not wanting to make the boy with the bright eyes cry. For a while, things were good, the boys were all laughing, the pizza was delicious and Louis felt complete next to Harry again, but Harry was a little more silent than usual and Niall kept looking over at him with concerned eyes and he realized Zayn had a crease in his forehead...he leaned down and asked Harry if he was okay, but he got his answer in the form of Harry looking up at him with tears in his eyes. He suddenly felt his whole body tense up and his heart kind of dropped, he stood up and let Harry wrap himself around Lou as he carried him back to a bedroom and laid him down, he looked at Harry curiously and before he could get a word out he took off the Green Bay hoodie and sat helplessly in front of Lou.


	9. Tell Me A Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my beta, Celia for the inspiration and helping me get through the chapters that are difficult to write. xo

Lou’s eyes immediately went to the bite on Harry’s neck, it was close to the spot he liked to leave his own marks and he gasped, he thought at first maybe he kept it in, but it obviously came out because Harry immediately started apologizing. 

"Lou I am so sorry, I’m so awful, I’m so sorry, please just…I don’t know what to say to you right now, I am so fucking sorry."

Louis just stared at him, he stared at him and wondered what happened to the boy he knew, the boy he thought never would have done a thing in his power to hurt him, what happened to the smiling boy with beautiful eyes who was Lou’s and Lou’s only? His stomach sank and the tears welled up in his eyes, he stormed out of the bedroom and left Harry sitting there crying, he walked to the living room and Zayn found his eyes first, Lou couldn’t speak but his face said it all, he was asking them why, how, what had happened?

"I am so sorry man, I…none of us know that much, did he tell you how it happened? Did he say anything at all?"

"He just took his shirt off and I saw the bite mark on his neck, it’s huge and sloppy and I lost it, I can’t see him like that, I don’t even want to look at him right now. I think I’m going for a run lads, I’ll see you later."

"Hey man, wait up, I’m coming with you." 

"I want to be alone right now, Niall." Lou answered

"That may be the case Louis, but you don’t need to be alone right now." Nail replied, slipping on his running shoes.

With that the boys were out the door and Liam and Zayn were sitting in the living room just as shocked as they’d been when they’d found out this morning. Liam looked at Zayn and he started to ask him what they needed to do, but Harry walked out of the bedroom.

"Harry, you need to sit down and tell us exactly what happened last night." Liam said…so Harry began.

"I don’t remember, I think I got so drunk I blacked out, or maybe I just blacked out what was happening, I’m not saying I wasn’t a willing participant, but I don’t remember everything. We were all taking the body shots in the kitchen and I remember feeling pretty drunk, Nick kept smiling at me and biting his lip and at first I shook my head, but then I think I started smiling back, he whispered a few things in my ear and I know I should have just turned away then and left it alone, but I didn’t…the next thing I know I was grabbing his arm and dragging him down the hall and he was pressing me against it and we were kissing, it felt different, it wasn’t Louis, but it felt okay in the moment, I felt like if Lou didn’t remember me, at least Nick would pay me attention. From there we went into the extra bedroom and he laid me down on the bed, I remember him being on top of me, kissing me really hard and then I don’t remember anything else, there is literally nothing, just me waking up and stretching and knocking against his body. Then I rolled over and I saw that it was Nick, not Lou, and his back had scratches on it and I…I don’t know" Harry managed to get it out without crying, but at the thought of Lou’s face staring at his neck he began to sob again. Liam looked at Zayn who already had his phone out.

2 rings went by, then the third and when he almost hung up he heard a voice on the line

"Zayn, what’s up lad?" Nick asked.

"Look, obviously something happened between you and Harry last night and you can spare me the details but I need to know a general idea because Louis came home a night early and the love bite you plastered on his neck shook him and Harry is a mess and I need to know what happened."

"Look Zayn, Harry is a big boy and I didn’t do anything wrong, we were kissing in the hall and then he drug me to the bedroom, so I went, he took his shirt off so I did too, if he’s worried about the scratches it’s not what he probably thinks. We had a pretty heated make out session but when I took my hands to his hips he pushed me off and shook his head, he said he was in love with Louis and I told him that sounded like a weird thing to tell the guy you’re kissing when his name is Nick, he kind of giggled but I could see that he meant it, so I rolled over and he kissed my shoulder and told me he was sorry, I think he thought he was going to start crying or something because the air in the room got thick and he looked sad so I just pulled him in and he fell asleep in my arms. We didn’t hook up, but this morning he thought we did and I’m a smug bastard, so I let him think it."

"A smug bastard is right, but thanks, that’s all I needed." Zayn hung up and looked at Liam and Harry. "So things could be worse but they aren’t as bad as we all thought. You didn’t have sex, your make out session just got a little heated. He thought it was funny that you thought you’d hooked up with him so he said he was going to let you think it, I mean it’s not great, but considering, I think Lou will take that news a little bit easier."

"Lou looked at me like I broke his soul, I don’t think he’s going to take any news easy from me right now, I heard him leave, he doesn’t even want to be in the same room as me and I can’t blame him, he hates me." Harry managed to speak through his sobbing.

"Hate isn’t the word but I’ll give you that he’s angry, and with good reason, but he loves you Harry, you can’t expect him to just get over this, but he also knows that he is in a situation right now that hurts you every day too…"

Harry cut Liam off, “Yeah but he’s forced into it, I walked into mine.”

"Well I didn’t want to say that, but it is true…" Liam replied.

Zayn just opened his arms and let Harry fall back into them, they sat in silence aside from the little cries escaping Harry’s lips until Niall and Louis got back, Lou didn’t stop in the living room to kiss Harry’s forehead like he usually did after a run, he went into the kitchen, got a cup of water and said a general goodnight before telling Liam he was sleeping with him tonight. Liam got up and followed Louis in the bedroom closing the door behind them.

"I don’t want to talk about it because I know I’ll sound hypocritical but I don’t care, I don’t snog with Eleanor and leave bites on her neck and I sure as hell don’t do it willingly, who am I? Why was I not important enough for Harry to think, oh my boyfriend probably won’t like this very much? Did he consider me at all? Of course not, he’s too busy hooking up with someone, he hooked up with someone in this house and I think I’m going to be sick if I think about it for another second."

"Louis I know you don’t want to hear about it but you need to hear this, he didn’t sleep with him, they snogged and things got heated, but he didn’t have sex with him Lou."

"HIM, it was a guy? That’s just fucking golden isn’t it mate?" Lou laughed but it wasn’t funny, it didn’t feel funny, it just fucking hurt. Louis had been the only guy Harry had ever kissed, ever touched romantically, now he was just another number, at least that’s how he felt. "So who was it then? Someone I know?"

"Louis do you really want to know?" Liam asked…and the look on his face said he did so Liam told him…"It was Grimshaw man, Nick."

"IT JUST KEEPS GETTING FUCKING BETTER DOESN’T IT" he yelled, and stormed out of the bedroom back into the living room with Liam following behind him asking him to just try to be calm.

"Nick fucking Grimshaw Harry, NICK? Of all people in this planet it was Nick, not only another guy, but a smart ass guy who doesn’t deserve your attention in the first place? You’ve got to be kidding me, please tell me this is all some kind of joke."

"Lou, I…I’m so sorry." Harry tried to speak…

"You’re damn right you are." Was his only reply as he walked back into the bedroom and slammed the door.

Liam let him have a moment, but when he heard sobs coming from the other side of the door he walked in, he laid in bed next to Lou and he just put his arms around him, he let him cry into his shoulder until his shirt was soaked and he stroked his hair until the sobs finally quit and Lou took a deep breath, he nuzzled in closer to Liam and within moments he’d fallen asleep, Liam didn’t want to move, he wanted to let him sleep, let his heart have a little time to just be, so he pulled the blanket up their bodies and slept there with Louis.

They awoke to an amazing smell from the kitchen and Lou knew it was Harry having cooked breakfast, Liam asked if he’d rather eat in the bedroom and he said yes so Liam went to the kitchen and grabbed two full plates and took them back, they sat on the bed in silence while they ate and when Louis was finished he sat his plate on the bedside table and curled up in a ball again under the blankets. Liam let him be and walked out of the room closing the door behind him. They only had the afternoon before they’d have to be back on the bus, cramped up together on their way to the next show, so he wanted to give Louis some space. He threw on some running shoes and walked out the door nodding to Harry who was sitting in the kitchen and Zayn who was sitting on the sofa next to a sleeping Niall. Harry wanted to speak, he wanted things to feel normal again, but more than that he wanted to walk in the bedroom where Louis was sleeping and hold him, curl up next to him and kiss his face, but he knew he couldn’t and that cut him deeper than any pain he’d ever felt before. He cleaned up the dishes he’d used to make everyone’s breakfast and retreated back to the spare bedroom to try to sleep away the remaining hours before they would be back on the bus.

It must have worked because Zayn was knocking at the door telling Harry they had half an hour, but when he got no reply he walked into the room and saw that Harry was sleeping, even in his dreams he had a frown on his face and he looked broken. Zayn knew he’d done this to himself but he still felt for him, so he laid down next to Harry and stroked his fingers through his hair trying to wake him gently from his slumber. After a few moments Harry was awake and the heaviness in his heart was right back, almost worse.

"We’ve got 30 minutes before we’ve got to go lad, thought you might wanna get a shower in here and throw whatever you’re bringing with us into a bag"

"Thanks Zayn," Harry replied quietly as he got out of bed and walked to the bathroom shutting the door behind him. Zayn sat on the bed for a moment just taking it in, knowing he was sitting in the same room where Harry had been with Nick and how awful it made him feel, knowing that two of his best friends were hurting. He walked out of the room and down the hall to where they’d all left Louis earlier, it’s not that they didn’t want to talk to him, it’s just that none of them knew what to say. Zayn knocked on the door and heard a broken voice on the other side invite him in followed by ‘as long as you’re not Harry.’ The door kept opening so Louis was sure it wasn’t the boy who’d broken his heart, and when he saw that it was Zayn he just shrugged his shoulders as he sat up in bed, Zayn crawled in next to him and for a moment struggled to come up with something to say.

"I love you Louis, we all do mate, more than I can put into words, and I know you’re hurting right now but so is Harry, and I just, what he did was wrong, it was wrong on all levels and I swear I was so mad when I found out, and a part of me still is, but please don’t allow this to drag on when it’s killing you both. Be mad, be upset, but promise me when the pain subsides some you’ll talk to him, his voice is the most familiar to your heart and you know yours speaks directly to his soul and you two without each other is just no good mate, no good at all." With that Zayn kissed Lou on the top of his messy hair and told him they had about 20 minutes before it was time to go. Lou nodded at him with a half smile and pulled a new jumper out of his vacation bags, pulled it over his head and slipped on his shoes. He walked out into the living room, bags packed from being on his ‘romantic getaway’ with El, and sat there waiting, he almost hoped he’d see Harry doing something in the kitchen, he was so mad at him but he couldn’t deny that he missed looking at him, he wished he could touch him, wished he could hear his voice, but he couldn’t and wouldn’t give in…not yet. The other boys started trickling into the living room, with warm jumpers and joggers on, ready to be on the bus headed to their next stop…the last one in the living room was Harry, head hung down not making eye contact, and looking broken himself. The boys said goodbye to Liam’s house for a while and walked outside, backpacks on their shoulders, and towards the bus. Once they got on they all sighed with a bit of relief, the one constant in their lives was music, was their band, and being back on the road held promise, it held the ability to move forward and hopefully move past the situation with Harry and Lou. However, things didn’t exactly go according to that wish…

It was about 3 in the morning when they heard yelling.

"You know how I feel about Nick, I just don’t fucking understand why you would have called him, out of fucking everybody in the world…I was on a forced vacation and you were snogging an awful boy in our best friend’s house. I didn’t have my phone because they took it from me, you know me Harry, I would never ignore you, I would never put you second. You, I…I can’t believe you, I’m still having an impossible time trying to figure this out. I can’t believe you actually got in bed with someone else, someone else had their lips all over you, had their hands on you, another man has experienced part of you that only I was supposed to be able to experience. Do you even realize how deep that cuts me? Do you even care?"

"Lou of course I care, I made a mistake, this was much greater than just a mistake, but I didn’t give him all of me, you still have that, you have my mind and my heart and my body, I fell into bed with him for a night, you’ve got me for an eternity, and I know it’s going to take that long for me to make this up to you but I want to, I’m willing to because I love you, I am so in love with you that it hurts me, and I don’t know, I just, I am so fucking sorry Lou."

"I don’t even want to hear it right now, I just need you to know how much you hurt me, and to know why this isn’t okay." Louis looked at Harry like he wasn’t even there, he basically looked through him, and Harry broke a little bit under the empty stare and began crying…Louis couldn’t stand to see it so he walked away, got into a sleeping bunk and shut the curtain around him. 

Harry knew then that the next few weeks of shows would be miserable, and he was right…the stops on tour were awful…the only chemistry they had was their chemistry on stage and it was beautiful and perfect and everything Harry needed, but it was over the moment they walked off stage and back into their lives outside those 3 hours a night. Harry missed Lou, he tried to find reasons to talk to him, excuses to bump into him, he literally tried anything he could think of, but Lou avoided him like the plague and he was going mad. Zayn was spending a lot of time with Lou and Niall had taken Harry under his wing, Liam played neutral even though no one was truly picking sides, Liam was always the voice of reason and tried to get the two of them to come together, but Louis refused and Harry didn’t want to try again and get shut down.

They had 2 days off in a row and they’d stay in a hotel in America and Liam told Harry it may be a good idea to get some alcohol and pizza and have some time for the 5 of them to just spend together, maybe grab a few of Lou’s favorite drinks, and snacks to go with it, and Harry smiled and decided Liam was right, it was now or never, 2 days off the bus and off the road and he was going to make sure Louis missed him just as much as Harry was missing Lou.


	10. Stockholm Syndrome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The love is back guys! :)
> 
> Thanks Celia xo

Harry grabbed a few bottles of alcohol for the lads, a case of beers, and ordered the most greasy pizza he could find and brought it all to the hotel. He had a few movies rented but he figured they wouldn’t use those until later so he turned on some music in the background and Zayn was the first to show up, they took a couple shots and talked, Harry told Zayn his plan to get Lou drinking and hopefully he’d get emotional and realize that he missed Harry, he couldn’t take the silence anymore, he couldn’t take the way Lou looked through him anymore, it’d been 4 weeks to the day since he told Lou about Nick, and he hadn’t ever gone 4 days without touching Lou since they’d met. His senses were in overdrive, every part of his body was going crazy, he felt like he would explode soon if he wasn’t able to kiss him, press his lips to his neck, grind against his hips until Lou was hard and then get flipped over on his knees and thrust into until they both came. He was on fire tonight, he just couldn’t wait for Lou to walk into the room…and 15 minutes later, it finally happened with a knock at the door followed by Niall, Liam and finally Lou walking in. 

Lou had on the red scoop neck shirt they liked to share, you could see the writing across the top of his chest, his arms were tan from playing footie with Niall before shows and his ankles were exposed by his tight jeans rolled up a bit at the bottom and the sight of him made Harry bite his lip so hard he tasted blood. He pulled the lads in for a hug and went to by pass Lou but couldn’t, so he threw his arms around the shorter boy and he swore for a second he felt Lou tilt his head into his shoulder, but the moment was gone as Lou pulled back, nodded at Harry and walked to the kitchen. Lou downed 2 shots immediately and made a mixed drink right after that, they listened to music and all joined in conversation about the tour so far, Lou and Harry’s favorite stops had been the same so far, their favorite songs had been the same, and they even finished each others sentences like they used to, but the tension in the air was getting thick so Zayn suggested they take a few more shots, to which Lou jumped up happily at. Before they all knew it, the room was spinning and Liam was the first to leave back to his own room, Zayn had asked Harry if he wanted him to stay in case things didn’t go as planned with Lou and Harry said yes, so Niall told the lads goodnight too and walked out with his arm around Liam. Lou stood in the kitchen wondering what his next move was going to be, he could walk out the door, holler at the guys to wait, and go to sleep in his own room, or he could stay here and kiss Harry, throw him against the wall and take his body, remind Harry who he belonged to. The second idea suddenly sat better with Lou than the first so he finished his drink, sat it on the counter and joined Zayn and Harry in the living room. They decided to put in a movie so Harry got up to put the dvd in and came back to the sofa to sit down, he went to sit on the other side of Zayn but Lou pulled him down next to him instead, he didn’t speak to Harry, he didn’t even look at him, but his slight request of the presence of Harry next to him was enough to drive the younger boy crazy. The movie went on for a while and Zayn dozed off to sleep…Louis knew this was his moment, so he kept his eyes on the screen but moved his hand to Harry’s knee, then worked it up slowly until he had by passed his crotch and his fingers were pressing hard into Harry’s hips…Harry thrust his hips upwards at the touch but Lou used his other hand to press them down, making sure Harry couldn’t move again, he crawled onto Harry’s lap and bit down on his lip, he shoved his tongue in Harry’s mouth and was exploring it like he hadn’t given himself the ability to do in weeks, he was pulling Harry’s head back by his hair and kissing down his neck now, but it was different, it wasn’t gentle the way it normally was.

He’d never hurt Harry before, and maybe he wasn’t hurting him now, but he was being rough, more rough than Harry had ever expected. He thought when he got alcohol for him and the lads tonight Lou would get drunk, maybe yell at him a little bit, but then cry, get emotional, want to talk things out…instead he held all of his words in and let his body speak for him, and there was still a lot of anger Louis was holding in.

He drug Harry to the bedroom by his arm and slammed the door closed behind him. He pushed Harry against the wall and bit into his neck, into the spot that belonged to him, right next to the spot where someone else had placed a bite a couple weeks before. He began to bite more along Harry’s collar bone and each new bite produced a new sound from Harry, this was more rough than he was used to, but feeling Lou’s lips on his skin again in whatever way he could have them felt amazing. He wanted to kiss Lou back, to put his hands in Lou’s hair and pull his head backwards, devour his neck, push him against the wall, but he knew this was about Lou, this was what he needed tonight and Harry would oblige. Louis started pulling Harry’s shirt up and removed him lips from his neck long enough to pull it over his head and throw it on the floor, he stood back for a moment looking at the taller, but younger boy in front of him and Harry swore for a moment when he caught Lou’s eyes looking in his own that he caught a moment of vulnerability, but Lou snapped out of it, bit his bottom lip and thrust himself against Harry again, pulling at him in a needy way, biting, kissing, whispering awful things in his ear…Harry had never been in a moment this heated with Lou, but he knew they needed more, more of everything, so Harry began to push back against Lou, and managed to work their bodies to where they were walking towards the bed, not breaking the intimacy of their kiss, until Louis felt his legs against the bed. He took the moment to pull Harry around to where he’d been standing and throw him on the bed, he crawled up Harry’s body littering his abdomen with kisses and little bites and pressing his fingers against his hips producing an array of small bruises that would mark him, that would show anyone else who wanted to touch him that he belonged to Louis, that every part of Harry was Lou’s and only his. He kissed the boys hips while his hands came together to start removing his jeans, Harry’s hips pushed up and Lou knew he was telling him to move faster, he wasted little time almost ripping them off before tossing them to the floor, his boxers flew off next and Harry was finally underneath Lou naked again, it had been weeks since he’d seen him this way, so vulnerable, so hot, with desire in his eyes and Lou wanted to eat him up. He brought his hand up to Harry’s cock, it was red and dripping pre come already, and he tugged it a few times making sure he was hard, totally turned on, before taking the head in his mouth, licking over the slit and swallowing around Harry’s length entirely, Harry’s hips bucked up but Lou brought his hand to them and pushed them back down, holding his weight while he swallowed around him one more time before removing his mouth from Harry’s cock and sticking 2 fingers in instead, licking all around them, making sure they were nice and coated before thrusting them into Harry’s opening. He wasted no time being gentle, no time stretching him out, he was working his fingers in and out as Harry tried to bite his lips to contain his moan, but all he did was bite hard enough to produce blood and let the noises slip out anyway. Lou thrust a third finger inside and curled them just right to find Harry’s prostate, he pressed against it with force and Harry let out a scream, Lou kept his fingers inside of Harry but used his other hand to pull Harry into him and bite his lips for him, he pulled away just enough to where their lips were still touching and he told Harry to shut up and take it. Harry looked up at Lou with hungry eyes, he’d never been talked to like this, why was it turning him on so much? He nodded at Lou as Lou worked his way back down Harry’s body, before pulling his fingers out and flipping Harry over on his stomach, he pulled Harry apart, licking at his opening before he pulled himself up straight and lined up with Harry’s opening. He grabbed his hips and thrust inside hard, bottoming out right away, he felt Harry’s prostate but angled away from it, not wanting to give him too much pleasure to begin with, Harry was panting his name, asking for more and Lou wanted to give in, he wanted to kiss Harry’s back the way he usually did, pull him in close and slow down, really taking his time, but he was still mad at Harry, still hurt by him and right now, watching Harry break apart underneath him while he was being rough, that’s what Lou needed to help himself heal. Harry felt it, he knew what Lou needed and he wanted to make him happy, he wanted to feel him invade his body in every sense of the word and he wanted to let Lou come undone inside of him so he mustered up the breath and courage to speak and decided to help Lou along in the process.

"Louis, I don’t deserve you, but I want you to know how much I need you, please keep giving it to me, harder Lou, faster, don’t fucking stop."

Lou gasped when he heard Harry’s voice, it was broken but strong, it was wrecked but so fucking hot and it had Lou thrusting inside of Harry even harder.

"You like this Harry, you like letting me use you like this, does it make you happy to know that I’m getting off by slamming into you harder than I ever have before? You’re mine Harry Styles, you don’t belong to anyone else, you never fucking will again. My hands are the only hands that are allowed to touch your body Harry, my lips are the only lips allowed to kiss your neck, and my cock is the only one that can make you fall apart like this. I want you to come Harry, come for me hard..."

That’s all it took for Harry to come, untouched, onto the sheets beneath him and as he cried Lou’s name out during the height of his climax, Lou joined him, they had their orgasms together and it was only moments before Lou pulled out of Harry and fell onto the be. Harry wanted to cuddle into Lou like he usually did, he wanted to kiss his chest and nuzzle in close and tell Lou how much he loved him, but he wasn’t sure if he should so he went into the bathroom, wet a hand towel and brought it back to the bed to wipe off the spot where he came, the other hand held a dry towel that he used to wipe Lou’s chest, his forehead, his neck, all drenched in sweat, and as he was drying he felt Lou’s hand come up and interlace his fingers with Harry’s. Harry gasped, having not felt the sweet touch of Lou in weeks and tears began to form in his eyes but he blinked them away so Lou wouldn’t see but as he looked down he noticed Lou had tears in his own eyes, and before he knew it Lou was pulling him in and holding him close and he took a deep breath before speaking.

"I’m so fucking sorry Harry, I should have been more gentle, I should have taken my time, I just…I was drunk and you looked like fucking heaven and hell at the same time and I had to have you, but then I thought about you and Nick and it made me sick but I still wanted you, but I was mad and upset and hurt and…I…Jesus Christ Harry I would never hurt you, I am so…I’m so sorry." Lou was crying and holding Harry so tight to him and Harry wasn’t sure if now was a good time to admit to Lou that he liked being a little roughed up or if he should just let the silence exist between them for a moment, he went with the latter and kissed sweet little pecks into Lou’s neck for a few moments before the crying stopped and his breathing regulated and he turned up to look into Lou’s beautiful eyes.

"Lou, I am so sorry, I fucking love you, I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone, I made such a huge mistake and you don’t have to apologize for anything, just, please tell me we’re okay now, please don’t let me have you like this tonight and be gone again tomorrow."

"Harry we’re okay, I can’t take another day of avoiding you, of pretending not to undress you with my eyes, I can’t survive another day of not being able to kiss you, I can’t resist you and your curls, you’re my future Harry, I fucking missed you so much." With that Lou was kissing Harry again, this time so gently it almost felt like little angel kisses, his fingers were trailing up and down Harry’s chest touching him as if he were breakable…he wanted to let Harry know that even if he’d fucked him raw moments before, he was still his baby, he still wanted to take care of him and protect him and maybe if he hadn’t been on his stupid forced vacation Harry wouldn’t have kissed Nick and that ate away at him too. He just wanted to make sure nothing ever hurt Harry again, including him…he wanted to tell Harry more, he wanted to fill his ears with all of these comforting words but Harry’s eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow and Lou was sure he was sleeping, but he couldn’t hold them in, so he spoke into the air. 

"Harry Styles you are my sun and my moon, you are my happy and my sad, you are the good and the bad and everything in between, you’re an angel…you are somehow exactly what I imagine heaven would be like, sometimes hell too, your laugh, God the way you laugh at me even when I’m not funny…Harry you know I live for that right? I live for the moments when you don’t even know you’re doing it but you’re stealing my heart. I am so sorry I was rough with you, even if just for a moment, because no matter what you do, you always deserve my kindness, you are my world curly, I love you."

He sighed, happy that he allowed himself to say it and just before he closed his eyes to join Harry in sleep he heard a sweet small voice say the only thing he needed to hear.

"Louis Tomlinson, I’m going to marry you one day. I love you."


	11. Everything About You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is fluffy and romantic and has a bit of smut but it's cute, it's the morning/day after they make up and Louis is so gentle with Harry, so in love with him.
> 
> As usual, thank you Celia, for more than you know. xo

The next morning Lou woke up first which was rare, he was used to being woken by kitten kisses and the smell of a delicious breakfast, he was used to the sun shining bright in the window and asking what time it was...Harry would laugh and tell him after 12 and Lou would just roll his face back into the pillow. Today was different though, it couldn't have been after 10 which is sleeping in late for Harry, there was no smell of breakfast, and the curly haired boy was still sleeping under his arms. Lou couldn't shake the thought from his head of how rough he was with Harry last night, how much he'd been so stuck in himself and his anger, how he didn't take his time and give Harry the love he deserved. Yes Harry made a mistake, one that hurt Lou more than he'd ever been hurt before, thinking about it still made his skin crawl, but they were stuck in this awful situation and he could understand...he could if he really tried and he really loved Harry too much to keep missing him when he was right next to him, he also loved Harry too much to let him think that last night was okay. So maybe Louis liked being in control, maybe he liked submissive Harry, but they hadn't ever been that rough, they had safe words and colors and things they did when Harry would go to subspace and Louis didn't pay attention to any of that last night...he made himself feel awful thinking about it, thinking about using Harry, so he squeezed his body tighter and Harry nuzzled in closer and Louis knew that Harry deserved to feel adored and wanted and loved.

He carefully lifted Harry's head up from his arm and quickly slipped out from beneath him, laying Harry's head back on the pillow and pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. He went and got a drink of water and brushed his teeth, his mouth tasted like dark liquor and cigarettes and he wanted to kiss Harry this morning, really kiss him, and he wanted a clean mouth when he did. He walked back to the bed and climbed on top of Harry so he was straddling him, he spent a few minutes looking at the boy beneath him, examining him like it was the first time, taking in the way his curls framed his face, how his eyelashes cast shadows on his cheeks from their length, how his lips were so pink and big, how his jawline was precise and begging to be kissed...the way his shoulders were broad and strong but not overly so...how his abdomen was muscular but dainty still...he just couldn't get enough of this boy, Harry was truly the love of Lou's life.

He began kissing his skin, sweet little kisses like the ones Harry uses to wake Lou up, but his kisses weren't meant to do that, he wanted to let Harry sleep for at least a bit longer, he wanted to cover his skin in kisses, leave little whispers in his ears, hoping they'd find him wherever he was dreaming. He began by bringing his lips to Harry's left ear, telling him how beautiful he was, how strong and special and lovely and perfect he was. He moved across his face kissing his eyes, praying he'd never have to avoid them again, he kissed across to his right ear where he told Harry what a good heart he had, what a good trait that was, how important Harry's kindness was to him, he kissed Harry's cute nose, and his pink cheeks, he whispered there too, how sorry he was, how he wishes he'd never been the cause for tears on those cheeks, how sorry he was that he put him in a place to even need Nick Grimshaw to console him, how much he missed Harry, and how he'd never let it happen again. He kissed his lips softly, but with enough weight to let Harry know he was there, even though he was dreaming, lost in sleep, that Lou was there and he wasn't going anywhere, he went to pull away but was met with hands on the back of his head, keeping him in close.

"I haven't been asleep since you lifted me off of your arm, I watched you walk to get water and use the bathroom, you look so disoriented in the mornings it's so cute, then I pretended to go back to sleep because I thought you were going to come cuddle again, but I'm glad you didn't. Louis you didn't have to say those things, I know I made mistakes too and please stop being sorry, I'm not as fragile as you think I am, I am however, so in love with you that it almost hurts me and right now my heart is so full, it is so full Lou, I love you so much." and he thrust his lips back against Lou's, they kissed again, with fervor but with softness, exploring their mouths like they hadn't in weeks, Lou's tongue slipping into Harry's mouth and tracing tiny circles against Harry's. Harry brought his arms around Lou's tiny waist and traced words into his skin, Lou loved trying to figure out what Harry was writing into his body, they'd lay like that for hours sometimes and even though Lou was frequently wrong it provided a lot of laughs and an excuse to just be close. Lou wanted this to be about Harry though, about making Harry feel good, so he moved Harry's hands off of him and slipped a little farther down. He kissed Harry's hips, using his tongue to lap over the skin on them, he didn't want to use his teeth but he knew that Harry enjoyed having love bites so he made little imprints against the skin, knowing they'd bruise enough for Harry to at least notice them for a day, and he guessed Harry knew so too because he giggled proudly as Lou completed the bites moving down a little farther.

Lou reached Harry's cock which was already pink and leaking pre come, he looked up at Harry with needy eyes. "You're so fucking beautiful Harry, you look so good laid in this bed getting covered in my kisses, you're so sweet for me Harry, you're such a good boy." Harry tried to reply but before he could get a word out Louis was swallowing him down and Harry lost the ability to think, let alone speak. Louis ran his tongue along Harry's length, pressing against his underneath and licking up, hollowing his cheeks out to create suction in his mouth allowing Harry to feel like he was tight in Lou, Harry's hips bucked up a little at the feeling and Lou allowed him to continue, he thrust in a few times until he thought he was being too rough and the mood didn't call for that this morning, so he fought against the urge to fuck Lou's face and took a deep breath to relax back into his own skin. Lou was making Harry produce sinful noises and it was almost too much, he knew Harry was probably sore from the night before but he still wanted him to feel good, so before Harry knew it, he was slipping his cock out of his mouth and replacing it with 2 fingers, soaking them in his spit and nodding for Harry to scoot over...Harry obliged a bit confused at first until he realized what was happening and he was immediately excited. 

Lou laid himself out on the bed, made sure his fingers were still nice and soaked, and took his fingers up against his own opening, Harry hadn't realized before how hard Lou was and it made him glow with pride, Lou loved sucking Harry's cock, he'd got off before on doing that alone and Harry loved it, how wrecked Lou would get just pleasuring him. This felt different though, more vulnerable, he was watching the man he loved lie beside him on the bed and prep himself so that Harry could fuck him, he was preparing himself to be had by Harry and it was almost more than Harry could take. He put his own fingers up against his mouth and looked at Lou which made him produce a sinful noise, Harry took that as an okay so he began licking his own fingers, coating them in spit and took them down to Lou's opening also...Lou removed the finger he had inside of himself and lifted his hips a bit to give Harry a better angle, Harry assisted Lou by placing a pillow underneath his hips. He took his first finger and teased Lou's opening before pressing into the first knuckle, Lou was tight around his finger and it was almost more than Harry could handle, but he knew Lou was doing this to make Harry feel good, and Harry wanted to make Lou feel amazing too so he stuck the next finger in, and took his time curling them to where he brushed gently against his prostate, he then began to open his fingers and scissor Lou a bit to make sure he would be able to take his full length without a burning pain...Harry looked up at Lou with bright red lips, pink cheeks, and eyes that were blown out, almost asking for permission to remove his fingers and replace it with his cock, and Lou nodded, he took his hands and grasped the sheets beneath him as Harry lined up with Lou's opening, not bothering to find lube, just getting himself wet with spit. He nudged against his opening and Lou's back arched which took him in even farther, Harry pressed in until he was fully inside Louis and he was panting Harry's name. Harry had been all around the world, heard beautiful sounds, written beautiful songs with amazing people, but no sound in the world beat the way Louis said Harry's name when he was wrecked, it was his own personal heaven. 

"Harry, Harry, baby please move, you're so...God you're perfect, just, fuck me Harry, please."

Harry listened, but wanted to keep the mood, he loved this, the slow work of their bodies together in perfect harmony. Harry began moving in slowly and pulling out even slower, he kissed Lou's body, down his neck, around his collar bone, and left his own whispers against Lou's skin. Telling him how perfect he was, how beautiful he looked lying underneath him, how much he loved him, how he'd missed this, he'd missed every part of who Lou was, inside and out. He told him he was sorry and that it would never happen again, he told him that he was lucky to be in love with his best friend, he began to cry as he described every perfect part of who Louis was to him before Lou lifted his head up and showed Harry that he was crying too, they kissed passionately and Harry pressed in at exactly the right angle to hit Lou's prostate, and Lou clenched around him, Harry knew that meant only a few more thrusts until Lou was coming on both of their chests, which was fine with him because he could probably only last through a few more himself, he hit the prostate again, again, and one more time and with the most beautiful cry of Harry's name, Lou came hard, hot, and white between their chests, his eyes rolled back into his head and it felt backwards and to the left. The way his ass clenched around Harry had him coming too, inside of Lou, he rode out his orgasm with a few extra thrusts, making sure Lou could feel him pulsing inside. When Harry pulled out to kiss Lou he noticed he looked a little bit lost.

"Louis, baby, are you okay?" Harry asked, but he heard no reply...Harry was a bit nervous before but he walked quickly to the bathroom to wet a face cloth and came back to the bedroom, he had another towel in the opposite hand that he used to clean Lou's chest, he threw it on the floor and sat on the bed, pulling Lou into him as he took the wet cloth around his hairline, then sweeping gently across his cheeks, he was peppering the skin in kisses asking Lou to say something...he saw that he was taking slow shallow breaths but this was new for Lou and Harry alike, he'd never lost Lou like this after sex before.

Lou came to about 5 minutes later, he looked at Harry and told him he loved him, his voice sounded different, more relaxed, he couldn't describe it but if he could have, Lou just, in that moment, sounded like vanilla. Sweet, soft, but warm and enveloping.

"Lou did you, did you leave?"

"I did...I didn't think that happened unless you were going for that from the beginning, it felt weird. I knew what was happening but I couldn't respond, i wanted to reach out to you but I was floating, I was just floating around in love and I almost didn't want to leave, but I needed to kiss you. I needed to touch your curls," and that he did, he put his hands through Harry's hair as he kissed his face, his cheeks, his lips, and nuzzled right into Harry.

Lou fell asleep quickly against the younger boy, and once he was sure he was sleeping he pulled out his phone and looked up subspace, he knew Lou had taken Harry there before, and it was amazing, but it was always when they were playing the dom/sub roles, it hadn't ever happened when things were slowed down, played romantically. Harry saw that people reach subspace in different ways, and some of those ways are just because they felt enveloped in love. Harry felt a sense of pride surge through him, he'd made Lou go to a different place completely just because of how loved Louis felt. Harry felt loved too, he felt safe and complete and calm and whole again, things he'd been needing to feel for weeks. He sat his phone on their night stand and looked down at Lou, he spent a moment studying Lou's angel face when he slept, he kissed his eyes and cuddled him in close, he wanted to keep kissing him, fill his head with whispered words and promises, but Lou looked like such an angel when he slept Harry couldn't do anything but try to fall asleep himself, hoping to meet Lou in his dreams.

The boys slept for 4 hours, only greeted by the sound of '18' playing as Harry's call tone, it might seem a bit weird to have your own song set as a ringer, but it was a version Ed recorded acoustically for just Harry and Lou and it made him feel good, hearing their love story at random times during a day. 

"Hey Liam, what's going on lad?" Harry asked

"We just wanted to get out for a bit, it's sunny but kind of cool and since it's a week day we may be able to get away with doing more out in public, what do you say you and Lou shower and join us?"

"He's still asleep so it might take a bit to wake him up, let's say we meet in 30? Lobby?"

"Sounds good Harry, see you soon."

Part of Harry wanted to stay in bed forever, but part of him wanted to take Lou's hand and hold it in public, kiss him on the cheek at a park, go see a film and share popcorn with too much butter, and he wanted to be around the other lads too, wanted to spend a day out with the best people in his life. He started giving Lou little kitten kisses and he felt the smile come up on his face and little noises escape Lou's lips and Harry continued, knowing the older boy was awake but not wanting to stop producing the happiness. 

"Harry I feel amazing, I feel so centered again, I love you so much."  
"Lou I love you too, Liam just called and wants us to meet him and the lads for a day out, what do you say?"  
"Sounds perfect babe, let's shower and get going."  
Lou got the shower water to the perfect temperature before stepping in and telling Harry to hurry and join him, they stood underneath the water together for a little while just existing, kissing, examining the other, Lou got shampoo in his hands and moved them to Harry's hair, he loved washing his curls. Lou would massage the shampoo into his scalp gently using little circles to build up a good lather, he always bought the shampoo with mint leaves because Harry loved the way it felt and Lou loved smelling it on him all day. Harry would slump down and almost fall when Lou had fully satisfied him with the hair washing, and Lou would begin to help rinse it out, making sure none fell into Harry's eyes, taking time to run his fingers through Harry's curls, it was his favorite part of their morning routine. They spent the next few minutes scrubbing each other off, and finding towels to dry down with, they stood together at the sink brushing their teeth and fixing their fringe before walking to the closet and pulling out a couple shirts and pairs of skinny jeans; Harry pulled on his brown boots and Lou threw on black Vans and they held hands and worked their way to the lobby. 

The other boys were waiting for them already with sun glasses and hats on, they'd already called a cab and they snuck out the door going unnoticed, they loved days like today, where they could just be themselves...where there wasn't a large crowd of people following their every move, people expected them to be on the road already but the short destination to their next city tomorrow night allotted them a few extra hours in their current city so they found a park and a subway shop and took some sandwiches to sit with on the lawn, there were two fans who saw them sitting out and they took photos and signed phone cases and the boys asked the younger ladies to please wait to tweet about their run in for an hour, the girls were sweet and very understanding and since the brunette asked for a kiss on the cheek in her photo from Larry, they were happy to oblige and they smiled and walked along their way. Louis laid backwards on his hands and threw his head back and allowed the sun to warm his skin, Harry laid his head in Lou's lap and Niall was the first to really congratulate them on their reunion

"It's about fuckin time boys, life is better when you two are together." Niall was right, not just for their own hearts, but for the rest of the lads, life was more meaningful when their best friends got to be in love.

"You two really make me miss Sophia," Liam began, "I know we've been sort of rocky lately but when I see you hold hands, or Lou when you tip toe up to kiss Harry, I just, I can almost feel her on my own skin, does that make sense?"

"You're mad for her Liam," Lou began, "You've always been absolutely mad for her, and what a fairytale story you two have, known each other since you were young, fell in love without realizing it, now she's model gorgeous and you're in a well known boy band, modern day Disney love story if you ask me."

"And you Zayn," Lou turned to the dark haired boy, "How are things with Perrie? It's been a while since we've heard you speak about her, she's been busy on the road too innit?"

"She's been working her ass off but she's doing so well, she's so happy and that makes it easier on me too, she understands how demanding tour time gets for us, she's not the kind of girl who texts me 90 times a day and I love that about her, she's secure in who she is and who I am and lads, that makes me love her so much," Zayn gushed about his girlfriend, "I know I don't go on about her much but it's just because when I do, I don't want to stop." 

"Zayn that's beautiful," Harry stated, "I know I'm probably the most sentimental guy on planet Earth but I...just...hearing you talk about her, God I could tear up right now but I'm not going to do that, I'm just happy guys, I am so fucking happy."

"OH It's okay, my girlfriend is doing great, she's a real charmer, doesn't require much since she doesn't exist, no complaining either though so that's a plus." Niall joked.

And the rest of the boys all laughed, harder than they had in a long time, Niall was laughing too, they sometimes wondered if Niall got sad about being the only truly single guy in the band, but he was a different breed of guy, Niall was the guy who knew exactly what he needed in a girl and just hadn't found it yet. Lou spent time reminding Niall that he was lucky, his patience would bring him a queen and Niall knew it was true, he'd kiss girls at bars and sometimes bring them home, but his heart was reserved and waiting for the girl who looked at him the way Harry looked at Louis, something he'd only admitted out loud once.

Before they knew it the alarm on Harry's phone was going off again reminding them that they'd spent an amazing afternoon under the sun, but it was time to return to the hotel, throw their bags together, and load into the bus that was making it's way to the back of the building, trying to keep things as low key as possible, some days the boys just needed normalcy, and they were happy to have such a great team to do what they could to let them have it.

They hailed another cab and made their way to the hotel, asking to be dropped off in the back incase anyone had seen the busses and keyed off paps or fans, they made it back with only a few girls standing in the lobby and so they had enough time to sign a few autographs, snap a few photos, and pack before it turned 8 and they had to get on the road. Louis and Harry looked around their hotel room, and Lou snapped a photo of the bedroom, this place would means something special to them forever now, something they'd be able to look back on with happiness, it was a key to their relationship, the place where they decided love was stronger than anything else, especially their love.

The boys had a message waiting from Modest when they got back to the bus, they were to record a short video on a contest they would be running to give away meet & greet tickets to a show exactly a month away. They sometimes wished they'd had more of a heads up about things like this, but they all looked freshly sun kissed and nice from their relaxing day so it wasn't too much trouble. The message had asked them to make sure Zayn sat between Lou & Harry and with a roll of the eyes they arranged themselves on the sofa in front of the laptop camera and began.

"Hey Directioners, 1D here, and we've got some exciting news to share with you, but listen up, because it's all happening very very quickly! We want to pick 3 fans to receive a meet and greet for our show exactly a month from today, and we want to get to know more about you in the process. Please take minute to send us a letter, a collage, or anything fun to let us know who you are and why you want to meet us, we'll go through submissions and pick the winners 5 days before our show. You've got 7 days to write the letter and mail them to us, then we'll start going through. Thank you all again so much for everything you do, we're looking forward to seeing all of you soon, we love you so much." They winked, smiled, and waved at the camera and signed off.

"This is a new concept, maybe Modest is trying to get back right with the fans." Niall said

"I think it'll be fun though," Harry replied, "I love how much our fans light up when they get to meet us, and with it only being 3 maybe they'll let us share a pizza or something"

It was a good thought, and instead of nervous emotions they all felt unusually calm about the situation, they weren't sure why Modest was being so open to their fans, but Louis especially had a great feeling about it. He looked at the lads, the way everyone looked so relaxed tonight, so calm and comfortable and he smiled, nuzzled into Harry's chest, and began to drift off.

"Come on love, I'll carry you to bed." Harry told him, and he stood up, wrapping Lou's legs around his waist and they both told the other lads goodnight and I love you as they went to their bunk.

"I had a dream we were on the beach last night, you had on these white trunks and your skin was so tan and your tattoos looked so dark against your skin and I fell in love with you all over again. I kind of want to go back there." Lou looked up at Harry as he spoke to him. "I want you to meet me there tonight, just imagine it with me and maybe we'll both end up there, okay?"

Lou wasn't usually the one with the corny requests and Harry's heart skipped a beat and his cheeks went pink at Lou's question.

"Of course I'll meet you there baby, I'll see you soon, lying next to you on the sand. I love you so much Lou, so so much." Harry kissed Lou's forehead, pulled him in close, and they both drifted off to sleep, hoping to find each other where the sun set over the water.


	12. Stand Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is where things start getting interesting for the boys, my beta gave me this idea and I ran with it and we are both so happy with how it turned out! I hope you all love it!
> 
> xo

Modest brought a box of mail for the lads, management was going to sort through it themselves to help them narrow down the thousands of letters they received but they didn't have time, and the lads were actually excited to get to go through all the letters themselves. Harry and Lou began with about 30 in their lap, Liam, Zayn & Niall sat on the floor picking one out of the box at a time. The boys shared laughs, tears, and their own memories as they were reading through the messages. Some of the fans shared stories of how the boys had helped them through hard times in their lives, some of them had talked about very dark times in their lives, times they considered ending it all, times they hurt themselves, times others hurt them, and they all had one thing in common, they thanked the boys for helping them out of their darkness. Lou found one letter from a girl who was writing from the hospital after her mom found her with her wrists cut open in their bathroom. 

 

"I couldn't see anything anymore, all I saw was darkness, it overtook every part of my life, school was cloudy, home life was cloudy, but the time I spent alone, that time contained color, that time allowed for me to get lost in something that wasn't trying to end me, it allowed me to get lost in you. I haven't ever been touched by musicians the way I have with you, it goes beyond your music, your lyrics, it's about who you are as people, how inspirational you are, you try to tell kids like me that it's okay for us to be ourselves and there were times that I actually believed it, but the cloudy turned to pitch black dark and it even over took the time I had alone. I didn't know what to do, I was lost, so my mom was out of town and I knew she was returning that night and I realized it was then or never, so I went into the bathroom, I wrote a letter, I signed it with a kiss and I opened myself up, I allowed the blood to seep out of my arms and I felt myself slipping away, and I swear I saw a light and I heard you, but it was too late, and then something strange happened, I woke up. My mom's last meeting was cancelled and she surprised me by coming home early to get me for dinner, she said she felt bad for not spending enough time with me, she saved me, but so did you, when I woke up I asked for my iPod and she already had it in her purse, she turned to my 1D playlist and I told her about you guys, I told her things I knew and stories I'd heard and she listened to your music and your message and we cried there together. She apologized over and over for letting me slip through the cracks and I believed her, I really think she meant it, we're going home in 3 days and I just know things are going to get better, so thank you."

The lads all had tears in their eyes after that one, they sat in silence for a moment and decided she would definitely be one of the girls they met. Lou looked over at Harry as he opened a package, it contained a lengthy letter, a beautiful collage of photos of the band, and a separate little envelope that said for Harry & Lou xx. Harry detached it from the package and tried to hide it. Lou looked at him questionably, and Harry just kind of shook his head and passed the letter and collage on. The collage was gorgeous, they loved it, the photos were all edited with a beautiful filter that made them glow, some of the shots had the boys with flower crowns, there were lyrics and quotes littered all over it, you could tell she spent a lot of time on it, making sure it was perfect. The letter attached to it was beautifully written, she said she was born pretty blessed, with a family that loved and accepted her, with really good friends, good marks in school; she played sports and had a really good best friend. Her dad was a lawyer and her mom was a home maker who sold jewelry on the side and she just woke up every day feeling lucky, the lads liked getting letters like this too, they liked people who just got to be happy. She told them that she knew how it felt to be able to not be yourself though, her best friend had a very different home life than she had, she was forced to hide who she was, to fake relationships and to tone down parts of who she was to appease the people who should have taken care of her without question...this part of the letter particularly appealed to Louis and Harry, and had Harry questioning what was in the private letter. She told the boys how much she wanted to meet them to just thank them for enhancing her already happy story, they decided that she'd be one to get through too, and then they decided to take a break, they wanted to get dinner and just relax a little. Harry and Lou went to a different part of the bus and Harry opened the little letter addressed for the two of them.

"There's something about this letter Lou, I don't know what it is, but it feels like it's really important..."

"Well come on then baby, let's open it and find out."

Harry sat in Lou's lap and leaned his head against his chest so they could read it together.

"If you're reading this I hope it means you've picked my package as one of the fans that gets to see you, for obvious reasons I can't wait to meet you all, but there is also a reason I wrote to the two of you separately, and I really hope that you'll read this and give it a chance with an open mind. 

I mentioned in my letter that my father is a lawyer, and I also mentioned that my parents are very involved in who I am and they know how much I love you all, I told my parents one night how unfair it was that people had to hide who they love; and when they agreed with me I began to show them photos of the two of you, I went through the 'Larry Stylinson' tag on tumblr and let them read all the posts themselves, they immediately felt for both of you as they were too not 'supposed' to be together, but they fought for love and it's been the greatest pay off of their lives. I asked my dad to look over some of the documents that have leaked online about your contract with management, and he did, he came to me about a week ago and told me that he found a loophole, and that he's not the one that would need convincing, you would be, but he'd be willing to help if you all wanted it. I know Lou, you're dating El, and I know Harry, you've got a 'womanizer' reputation, but Ive seen you in concert, I've seen photos and videos and proof from other concerts, from times people have seen you in public together, and I know that you're in love, and if there's one thing I've been taught in my life, it's that love is worth the fight. I hope that you've read this and I hope that you'll give this all a chance. I know it's scary, I know it's a big step, but I promise it'll be worth it, it'll be well worth it. You two are soul mates, and I just, I want to help you in any way that I can. I've attached my father's card to the bottom of this letter and also my mobile number, I know this is a long shot, but if you're not taking chances then what are you doing?" 

Louis looked at Harry with wonder in his eyes..."Baby, do you think he actually found a loophole? Do you think it's possible that we could...we could I don't know, get out of this, that we could keep the band in a good place but allow us to be happy too? You know the lads would be okay with it, oh Harry, do you think this could be real?"

"I don't know Louis, I don't know but I want to believe her, I think we should give it a shot, but maybe we shouldn't tell the lads just yet, maybe we should phone her, do you want to go for a late dinner? The bus has stopped for the night, we can find a diner that's open and just give her a ring..."

Lou was sold at late dinner and had already stood up to get his shoes on, "Well what are you waiting for prince charming? Come on!" He held out his hand and helped Harry off of the floor, he kissed his lips and helped the younger boy get his jacket on. Louis felt a fire inside of him and Harry felt it too, he was trying to keep himself grounded but it was hard when his heart felt like it was floating...what if this could really happen? What if they were really able to get out of this agreement?

The two snuck out of the bus without much notice by the other lads, they were busy buried in video games, they were only 30 minutes outside the city where their next show would be played, and there was a waffle house just about a mile down the road, they held hands and walked to the restaurant, taking a small booth in the back, they got cups of coffee and ordered hash browns with chocolate chip waffles, Lou was nervous, Harry was too but he pulled out his phone and dialed the number...there were 3 rings before they heard a small voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Madison?"

"It is, with whom am I...oh my God, wait, no way, is this...is this Harry?"

"Yes love, it is, I'm sitting here with Lou right now."

"Oh my God, Oh my God please don't judge me, just...let me have this little freak out and we'll talk, I promise I'm not a dunce, I just..oh my God!"

Lou and Harry giggled at her excitement, it never got old to them the way their fans would freak out at just the sight of them, Harry was sure she was losing her mind at his voice on the other end of the phone line.

"Okay, okay I think I'm good now, oh my gosh, hi! How are you two? I take it you got my letter??"

"We did and we were intrigued," Harry began, but Lou took the phone, "Intrigued is the wrong word, we were floored, there is something incredibly soft and safe about your words, and I want to believe that we can trust you, Maddy, can we trust you?" Lou asked.

"I promise that you can, I promise that I have no intentions here other than to help the two of you be happy, than to help the two of you get to be who you really are. I may not be that old, but I have a wise soul, at least that's what people tell me, and Lou I see photos of you with Eleanor and I'm sure she's sweet, but you look...well for a lack of better words you look miserable, and Harry you cried, I saw the video, you cried when Lou and El were together in front of you, that isn't healthy for either one of you, none of this is"

"You're absolutely right," Harry began, "It's the most painful thing in the world watching the person that you love, have to pretend to love someone else, it's driven us both mad, especially as of late, so yes I want to believe you and yes I want, well, we both want, to maybe get to talk to you and your dad. The day of our concert is when we'll have the meet and greet, once we pick the winners we'll be able to share all the details, but the next day we have an off day and if we can all come up with something we want to do, management usually lets us stay in the city. Lou and I can try to sneak away to meet up with you and your dad, that is, if he really is willing to help us."

"He is, he said he knows this is something big for you and that he knows it'll be hard, so he wants to know you have his full disclosure, he won't speak a word of this to anyone if you decide not to go through with it." 

"That sounds great, really it does, Lou and I will talk to the lads about it, and we'll decide from there, but they know about us and they all just want us to get a chance to be happy too, we'll keep in touch, and please, just...keep this between us okay?"

"I promise, I know you don't truly know me from Adam, but I love you too much to do anything to hurt you, both of you."

"Madison, you're truly an angel," Lou told her, "We'll speak to you soon."

They hung up and Harry looked over at Louis, they agreed they had a good feeling about her, and they sat cozy in the booth together until a few cars started to pull in, they left the table with a generous tip and walked out with their hoods up, unnoticed.

Lou slept like a baby that night while Harry let his mind wander, he was nervous and he knew they needed to show the letter to the boys in the morning, but he had a feeling of excitement too, like maybe this could be their saving grace.

Zayn pulled the curtain to their bunk back and asked if he could talk to Harry. Harry nodded yes and slipped out of the bed, leaving a sleeping Louis uncovered, he brought the blanket up to his shoulders and kissed his cheek before closing the curtain back and walking to their kitchen area.

"What's up lad?" Harry asked.

"I just, I wanted to tell you that I'm really glad things are okay with you two, and I'm...I'm sorry if I was hard on you, I just, God I hate seeing you hurt and sad but I hate seeing Louis hurt and sad too and...I just, I hate seeing people be reckless with love, and I guess I didn't give enough consideration to how you were feeling, not that I'm condoning what happened, but, I guess I'm saying I get it, and I'm saying I am very glad that the two of you look like you're alive again."

Harry walked up behind Zayn and hugged him tightly, he felt a bit of release in his spirit as he just allowed Zayn's words to reach him, he'd made a mistake, but everyone was still secretly rooting for him and Lou to be together, life had bigger plans for them than a drunken mistake.

"Since we're taking some time to be honest," Harry began, "I want to tell you about something that happened yesterday. You know the girl we picked who made us the beautiful collage? Well, she added an extra envelope for Lou and I, I didn't know what it was at first so I hid it and wanted to read it later...kind of assumed it was fan fiction like some fans like to send us, but it...it was a letter with an offer to, help us? She said she grew up privileged like she said in her general letter, but she said she also saw her best friend grow up having to hide who she was, having to fake relationships and situations to make people around her happy, and she said she hated seeing that in Lou and I, she said her dad is a lawyer Zayn, and she offered to let us talk to him, she said she found some leaked documents online and she let him overlook them, he thinks he's found a loophole!" 

"Wow, Harry, I...I don't even know what to say right now. Are you two sure about this?" Zayn asked.

"We are, we...we snuck out last night to waffle house, grabbed shitty food and coffee and we called her, she sounds sweet Zayn, she sounds genuine and sincere and like she really wants to help us, I think I want to meet with her, I know Louis does too, we just wanted to talk to you lads about it, make sure everyone was on board. I don't know anything else yet, but the day of the meet and greet she's gonna have her dad bring her, and we're gonna sneak off the day after the show to meet up with him." 

"Harry, you know we'll do anything we can to help keep you and Lou happy, seeing you two like that killed us, anything we can at all, seriously, we'll do it, just...we know the fans will love and accept you, all the stuff Modest has tried to tell you all, has tried to tell us, it's a lie. You're still going to be the heart throbs of the band, half of the fan base, no, more than half of the fan base wants you guys to be married anyway."

Harry and Zayn laughed together for a moment and they were joined by a sleepy Lou walking into the kitchen stretching his arms above his head and letting out a sigh. "You didn't wake me up with your kitten kisses." he mumbled with a frown in Harry's direction. Harry just smiled and held out his arms, pulling Louis in and covering his face in them. Zayn waited until Harry was done and put his arms around both boys, Louis knew that meant he and Harry had the conversation, and that Zayn was on board, he nuzzled into Zayns neck and whispered thank you.

By the end of the day Liam and Niall had been filled in on Madison and they were over the moon excited for their best friends, you see, One Direction was their passion, their life, their career, but they knew that love was important, seeing Harry and Lou happy, seeing them looking at each other with heart eyes was important, so that night they all sat on the bus, read the letter together and agreed that they should all meet up with Madison and her father the day of the meet and greet. Their concert was in a city with a pretty awesome array of things to do, so they would tell Modest that they wanted to have some time to explore the city, and doing it after the concert would maybe make it easier for them to sneak around, most of their fans would assume they'd gone on their way to the next stop. They'd carve out some time to find a hole in the wall for lunch, which is when they'd meet with her dad as long as he agreed to it, and they figured they could get away with about an hour alone. Louis thanked the boys with tears in his eyes and Harry just sat back with a full heart, the two of them would find a way to make this up to the boys, no matter what happened, they were putting themselves on the line for Harry and Lou's love and in Harry's mind, that meant more than anything.


	13. Up All Night

The lads went through the fan mail again when they woke up, picking out their last person for their meet and greet, it was a sweet girl who made them each a mix cd, described the playlist in detail, and added 'road snacks' for each of the boys, they thought it was one of the most creative things they'd seen.

Louis called management and told them they'd picked their three winners, but one of the letters meant so much because it was inspired by the girls life, but also her best friends life, and that they wanted to make sure both of the girls got to come, while he was on a roll he also told Modest he thought they should all be surprised with floor tickets, Louis had the tone in his voice that let them know he wasn't taking no for an answer; so they didn't even try to put up a fight, they said they'd announce the winners as they'd previously planned but they'd reach out to the girl in the letter and tell her she could bring her friend as a surprise. Lou told them thanks but he'd take care of it and hung the phone up. He walked back to the open area towards the front of the bus and sat down with the lads, they'd all decided they wanted to talk to Madison too, get to know her story a little bit and maybe come up with a solid game plan, they had a couple weeks to spare still but they were all sort of anxiously waiting and what better way to pass the time than have something solid to look forward to?

Harry dialed her number and put her on speaker, this time she answered after one ring.

"Hey Harry, Lou, is that you guys?"

"Maddy, it's us," Lou began, "We are sitting here with the rest of the lads and we decided to all give you a ring! How's the day sunshine?" 

"Louis Tomlinson did NOT just call me sunshine, oh my gosh, I'm okay, my day is fine, great now, how are you, wait all the lads? Oh my gosh, hiiiii everyone."

"Maddy you sound precious," Liam began, "So Lou and Harry filled us in on your letter and obviously they mean the world to us, and we're willing to do anything we can to help them. Your story really touched us, it touched all of us and we're so thankful that you want to meet us, but also that you want to help them. We were hoping to kind of talk to you about getting an idea of what we need or how we need to get things going for all this to work out."

"Well you all really have no idea how much you've made my life, some of my best memories have your songs playing in the background, and I swear you all mean so much to my best friend too, it's easy to want to help people who help you. So I talked to my dad, showed him the documents that have leaked, and he thinks he found a loophole, now I don't know what kind, or what exactly that means in legal terms, but I read it as he has the ability to help Lou & Harry, and maybe all of you, I mean I don't know what else goes on behind the scenes but maybe some new management would be good for all of you."

"We've definitely got an open mind," Zayn began, "We just want everything to be for the best of all of us, and we're not the best when two of us have to hide who they are, it really...it breaks us down in more ways than you might expect, we all suffer ya know?" 

"I do, and that's what I'm here for, that's what my dad is here for, we want to help you, my dad has worked with a lot of big name clientele and he's helped a lot of people out of some pretty bad situations. We can meet you guys anywhere that works for you, we'll get it set up."

"Maddy thank you again, that sounds perfect, and we're supposed to name the winners of our meet & greet online, but we want you to be able to bring your best friend with you, we want to do something special for both of you, so we aren't going to be able to announce your name VIA twitter, we'll just say the last winner isn't on social media, but was made aware of our contest by her friend and we'll just put your first name on there, that way there's nothing to give her the hint, so just tell her that you want to get there a little early, or that you want to grab lunch, something to get you in the area and we'll give you more information once we get it."

"Zayn, all of you, you're angels, I can't wait, thank you so much for taking a chance on me, thank you for taking a chance on Harry and Louis too, I can't wait to meet all of you, I'm eternally thankful."

"We can't wait to meet you either, love. Talk to you soon!" Lou said, and smiled as she giggled and hung up.

The other lads agreed, she did sound sweet, and very trustworthy, they all sat around for a few moments and talked, looking alive and excited again, they began to get a bit ahead of themselves, wondering if this could really be happening, could something this good really be in the cards for them? Modest wasn't the worst management company in the world, really it would be unfair to say that, but just...the boys wanted certain freedoms they just didn't have, creatively and personally...they wanted to be able to make more of their own decisions.

The next couple weeks went by painfully slow, the boys were getting so anxious, so nervous, but in a good way, they spent a lot of their time coming up with lyrics for future songs and they couldn't help but feel inspired by the potential of freedom. Harry noticed Lou getting particularly tense and worked up one evening, he sat behind him and rubbed his shoulders, feeling his muscles tense and balled up beneath his fingers; luckily the lads were getting a hotel the next night, and Harry had a plan for he and Lou. He asked Zayn if he wanted to run to the store with him, and he said yes, Lou looked at him questionably, but Harry just smiled and shrugged his shoulders,

"You're tense baby, go lay in the cabin and I'll come to you as soon as we get back, I've just gotta grab a few things and I can tell Zayn is itching to get out and smoke a bit." Harry told him with a kiss.

"You're lucky I love your curls so much." Louis responded as he kissed him back, and walked to his bed before kicking off his vans, he hoped the other lads wouldn't mind stepping over them later, but he was just too tired to care.

Zayn and harry made their way to the mall, it's amazing what a couple hoodies and beanies could do as a cover up, plus no one expected a couple lads from 1D to be at a suburban mall on a Tuesday night anyway, they went to a couple different stores to pick up a few things and crossed the street to a place where Harry would grab a special surprise for Lou, Zayn stayed in the car for this trip, lighting up a blunt and smoking it while Harry shopped. It's not that Zayn needed to smoke a lot; he just enjoyed the way it made him center every now and then, Harry was back in a matter of moments with a small pink bag in his hands, Zayn laughed and asked Harry to remind him to request a room down the hall instead of next door tomorrow night. 

The boys got a taxi back to the bus and Harry crawled into bed tossing his arms around Lou, he wanted to wake him up, cover him in kisses, but he'd save all of that for tomorrow, tonight he was content with the older boy's head in his lap, gently rubbing his fingers through his hair.

The boys woke up to Harry cooking breakfast, fresh orange juice he'd jogged to a market to get that morning, see, sometimes Harry needed to feel the sun on his skin, feel his lungs struggle for air, he needed to exhaust his body in a run and feel alive, this felt like the perfect morning to do so, and the lads were happy, home cooked breakfast, well...bus cooked breakfast but it was made by Harry so it was going to be amazing regardless. Louis came up behind Harry and threw his arms around his neck, standing on the tips of his toes to reach Harry's ear...

"I love you so much baby," he told him, "I can't wait to have you all alone in a great big bed tonight." he slapped Harry's ass as he grabbed his cup of orange juice and Harry had never been so happy to feel that touch.

The show went by without an error, the best kinds of nights for the lads, no one missed a note, no one's mic was too low, no one almost slipped on the water Harry spit all over the stage, and the fans, God the fans were incredible tonight, they had never felt the fan presence that intensely. Harry grabbed Lou and pulled him away once they were back stage, pressing him into a sweaty kiss.

"I've got a surprise for you tonight," he whispered, "You're going to lose your fucking mind." He pulled away with a wink and walked quickly out of the room. Louis stood there, jaw open, trying to catch his composure, and looked over at the other lads.

"Go on!" they all shouted in unison, and Louis obliged.

He met Harry at the bus as he was throwing the last few things into his backpack, he already had Lou's packed and sitting next to his extra pair of shoes, he grabbed the bag and Lou's arm and led him down the block to the hotel, the bus would have driven them, but Harry already mapped out a way to sneak off without the fans noticing, so they made it to the hotel and checked in, grabbing a room key and scurrying upstairs. Louis had no idea what had gotten into Harry, but he felt the hair on his skin stand up and in such a good way, he needed to know what else Harry had in store for them tonight...luckily, it didn't take any time at all for him to get to know. Before Lou could even lock the door Harry had him pressed up against it, kissing him passionately, but Harry didn't want to be in control tonight, he wanted to submit to Louis in every sense of the word.

"Lou, why don't you sit here for me and wait for me to shower off and get changed?" Harry suggested, and Lou decided it was a good idea, their hotels were always stocked with drinks and snacks, so he found something to occupy his time with while he turned on the television to see if there was a movie on he could watch. It seemed to take a bit longer for Harry to get done than usual, but Louis didn't mind, he had been feeling a bit tired, running and running without a good nights sleep, or anything to relax him, this night with Harry would be worth waiting on. He laid his head back against the sofa and closed his eyes for what seemed like a second, but when he awoke to harry kissing him he realized he'd been out for a little longer than he thought, he kept his eyes closed but opened his mouth and slipped his tongue into Harry's mouth to reciprocate the kiss, and he pulled his lazy hands up to touch Harry and then he felt part one of his surprise, Harry had something silky across his ass, and Lou perked up immediately. Harry must have felt Lou's sudden excitement because he giggled in his mouth before pulling back just far enough to be able to speak.

"I thought that might surprise you, daddy." He said, and looked up at Lou with an innocent smile.

Louis fell apart, he stood up, Harry still in his lap, and bounced him up as Harry wrapped his legs around Lou's waist, he carried Harry to the bedroom and laid him on the bed, where he found the second part of his surprise, a pink pair of handcuffs that matched the underwear Harry was wearing, some lube on the night stand next to a small whip, and a blindfold. Louis almost dropped Harry right then, but he suddenly became super aware of who he was, where he was, what was about to happen, and instead he laid Harry down on the bed softly, and looked up at him, Harry noticed the look on his face was one of passion, but also question, so he spoke before Lou had to ask.

"I know you're scared about what happened before, but we've done this, you've been my daddy and we've played with domination and I know that you're scared to be rough with me but tonight I need it Lou, I want you to take care of me, to take care of you."

That's all Harry had to say and Lou was back into action, he took Harry's arms and cuffed them together above his head, he pushed his fingers through the boys lovely curls that were sprawled across the pillow and began leaving a trail of kisses from his lips down to his hips, he stopped to pay close attention to his collar bone, he took the time to leave a couple love bites there before working his way down to Harry's nipples...he took one in his mouth and tongued over it, making it hard before moving over to the next one, biting down on it hard enough to produce a moan before he licked over it and kissed it. Harry's body had a beautiful coat of goosebumps across it and Lou took a moment to pause over him, taking him him, then moving down to his hips, he pressed his fingers into his left hip roughly while biting at the skin over top his right one, Harry was moaning more now but Lou still wasn't satisfied, he wanted to hear Harry's wrecked voice, so he bit down harder and hit the exact spot.

"Fuck, shit, oh my God," Harry let out.

Lou looked up at him and smiled slyly before removing the pink silk panties covering his ass, he looked at Harry's cock as it sprung out of them, laying against his stomach already red and leaking, Lou was ready to devour Harry, but not before he spent a little time driving him crazy. He started leaving little kisses on Harry's thighs, taking his time to make sure some of them turned into bruised bites, licking over the skin to counteract the bit of pain he knew Harry wanted to feel. Harry was starting to shake and buck his hips up, Lou knew harry needed him, but he still hadn't asked, so Lou kept working at his thighs and it finally came out.

"Daddy please, I..I fucking need you." Harry whined out.

Lou ate it up, and within seconds Harry's cock was in the back of his throat, he was twirling circles around it with his tongue, taking time to hollow his cheeks out while he swallowed around it, he pulled Harry out of him enough to leave room to allow his hand to grab at the base of Harry and work his hand in a motion that mirrored what he was doing with his mouth. Harry was shaking underneath him, bucking his hips up and Lou didn't even want to stop him, he'd let Harry be forceful now and punish him a bit for it later, he got close to coming because Lou felt his entire body tighten, so he stopped and gave Harry a wink. He kissed Harry sweetly once and asked if he was sure, Harry gave him a nod and Lou turned him over.

"On your knees for me baby, ass in the air." Lou demanded

Harry did as he was told, which proved to be a bit difficult without the use of his hands but he pulled it off successfully and sighed as if to say finally, Lou sighed too as he picked up the whip and felt it in his hand, he rubbed it across his palm a few times, almost scared to use it on Harry's perfect skin, but Harry was right, they both needed to be taken care of...and with that thought he brought the whip down across Harry's skin. Harry gasped, but was overwhelmed with positive emotion, Lou waited to make sure there wouldn't be a negative sound that followed, and then brought the whip down again, Harry let out a moan and Lou whipped him again, and again and again, each time Harry sounded more blissed out, more turned on and it was making Lou incredibly hard. He stopped for a moment thinking Harry might need a break, but through a sob that sounded more from pleasure than pain he let out a few words that hit at a place Lou hadn't ever felt before.

"Lou, fuck, daddy, please keep fucking spanking me, I've been so bad, good, awful, filthy, perfect, whatever I need to be I've been it, just please, do it again." He was crying but it was just from feeling so overwhelmed, but it made Lou stop for a moment and press kisses against his now hot skin, Harry wiggled his ass a little and let Lou know it was okay to start again, he needed more, and Lou always gave his baby what he needed, he brought the whip down 8 more times, making sure the sound of the slap resonated in his ears for a few seconds each time, Harry was moaning his name, followed by "Fuck." "God Yes." and the most animalistic noises he'd ever heard, Lou could have gotten off by just that, by the way Harry was reacting, but he wanted to fuck Harry, he wanted to thrust into him and make Harry really scream his name. He took the cuffs off of Harry and laid him on his back, he picked up the blindfold and brought it around Harry's eyes, he tied it around his perfect curls and dove in for a kiss, he bit at Harry's bottom lip to get him to open his mouth and explore it with his tongue, this kiss was slow, it was needy, it told Harry thank you, it told Harry he was perfect, he was so good, he was everything. Harry kissed back and met Lou's tongue, agreeing without words that Lou was perfect, good, and everything right back to him.

Lou moved down Harry's abdomen again, licking and biting at both nipples to produce the mewls out of Harry before moving down to his hips and biting across both of them, he hovered over Harry for a moment putting the lube over his fingers, before pressing one against Harry's hole, Harry let his legs fall to the bed to give Lou easier access and he thanked him with more kisses to his thighs as he pressed one finger inside, he moved it around getting Harry open a bit before slipping in the second, Harry moaned Lou's name and rutted against the mattress, trying to get more of Lou, Lou took the hint and scissored Harry open, pressing into his prostate and producing more little noises from his mouth. He pulled his fingers out and coated his own cock in lube before lining up with Harry's opening but not pressing in just yet, he was watching Harry beneath him shake and move around waiting for Lou, not being able to see when he'd finally get inside, he let out a huff and Lou decided he'd waited long enough, so he began to press into Harry, slowly at first until he had his entire length inside the younger boy, they let out a moan with each others name and sat in ecstasy for a moment before Lou pulled out almost all the way before thrusting back in hard, and he kept his pace up, throwing his hips into Harry harder each time.

"Daddy, fuck, daddy please, you feel so fucking good" Harry let out.

"No baby, you, baby you feel so tight; so tight and so good for daddy, it's like you're made for me baby, you're absolutely meant to squeeze tight around my cock as it's slamming into you. Do you like the way it feels when daddy thrusts into you baby?"

"Daddy, I...I fucking love how good you feel, I love being your good boy, I..please...please..I'm so close."

"It's okay baby, it's okay, you've been so good for daddy tonight baby, so good, just hold on a little longer for me baby, okay?"

Harry fought against himself to hold off his orgasm while Lou kept thrusting in, he brought his hand up to Harry's face and pulled the blindfold off, exposing Harry's eyes and Lou kissed him, fiercely and within a few thrusts he was coming inside of Harry and as soon as Harry felt it, he came also, sharing in an orgasm that made them both feel like they were exploding. 

Lou panted on Harry's chest for a little while while Harry let out a sigh underneath him, he felt light, airy, whole somehow yet, empty, he was already craving Lou inside him again, but Lou here with him now, their heart beats in sync, was good enough. He kissed Lou's head and rolled him off towards the side so he could get up and get them a couple of towels, he returned and helped get them both cleaned up and dried off and then he kissed Lou lazily.

"Thank you Lou, I, I don't know I've wanted to try that for a while, I just didn't know how to ask for it."

"Harry that was probably the hottest night of my entire life, your body, your mouth, your mind, God everything about you is sinful, I..I'm glad you laid this all out for me tonight, I think you're right, we both needed a way out of our heads for a little bit."

"Things are going to be okay Lou, I promise they are, this thing with Maddy is either going to work out or it isn't, but either way, you're my forever."

"Does forever include more of those pink panties?"

"Of course it does daddy," and with a wink and a kiss they cuddled up to fall asleep tangled into each other, noticing a bit of sunlight peeking through their window, but before Harry gave into dreams he whispered up into the ear of the boy who was always big spoon, even though he was shorter...

"Just 2 more days baby, just 2 more"


	14. She's Not Afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally the day of the meet & greet and the boys couldn't be happier, or more nervous.

"So we'll be seeing you soon then Maddy, thanks again, so much for everything you're doing, we're so excited to be meeting you today!"

"I can't wait to see you all either, Lou," she said, "I've gotta go curl my hair now because I expect excellent selfies with all of you later. Bye darling"

Louis laughed as he hung up Harry's phone, laid it down and curled back into bed with the younger boy, they'd been up late all night anticipating today and Harry was actually sleeping in, Louis didn't want to wake him up but Harry looked so cute when he slept, so he held off as long as he could, but then covered his face in kisses, Harry lazily kissed him back, but when Lou started to pull away he grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him back in, putting a little more effort into the kisses this time. Lou could kiss Harry forever, he really could, and Harry felt the same way, they laid there in a tangled sleepy mess, just kissing for 10 minutes before Louis finally pulled away and suggested that they shower, it was only a few hours until they'd be going to the Meet and Greet and they wanted to not spend a moment of the day rushing. The two slipped into a shower together, the bathroom smelling like vanilla within seconds, Louis massaging Harry's scalp slowly and making him purr, he said it a lot but part of him was convinced Harry really was part kitten, he loved it though, loved hearing Harry's little kitten noises. Harry washed Lou's hair this morning too, taking his fingers through the silky wet hair and scratching into his skin, Lou loved getting his scalp scratched so he leaned back into Harry and Harry smiled and kept scratching until his arms got tired. The water started to run a little cool so they got out, toweled off, and Lou grabbed them both a pair of joggers while Harry went to the kitchen to make breakfast and tea. They ate their chocolate chip pancakes and eggs sitting basically in each others lap, feeding each other bites of the same food, drinking out of the same cup until it was empty, then starting on the second. They'd probably save a lot of dishes if they'd just put everything on one plate and in one cup, but it was cuter this way, they decided, and Louis loved to do anything that made Harry happy.

The phone rang and Liam told them the bus was about 10 minutes out so they hung up to get dressed. Harry put on a button up shirt that he left widely unbuttoned so you could see his tattoos, he had on 3 necklaces and a ring on his right hand, he pulled up black skinny jeans and put on his brown chelsea boots. Lou went with a maroon V neck and black skinnies also with a rip at the knee, he threw on his vans and flipped his fringe back and forth until it fell perfectly. He looked up at Harry and used his 'weird fringe' as an excuse to get his hands in those curls, he pushed them around a bit, cocked his head to the side and smiled. Harry looked so young to him in certain moments and this was one of them, Lou had to kiss him so he tip toed up and pressed his lips to Harrys, and Harry grinned beneath him. They pulled away, joined hands, and stayed close until they reached the elevator, they shared a few more kisses before pulling apart as the doors opened. They knew they were walking a thin line with management, and with everything on their shoulders right now they'd decided to try to keep a bit of distance from their usual obvious swooning over one another...it was going to be harder than they both originally thought, but worth it to help the band. Liam and Zayn were already in the lobby and Niall walked out of the stairwell at the same time Harry and Lou's elevator doors shut. Niall always complained about not being able to get his energy out, he took the stairs over the elevator at any chance he got. The boys all greeted each other and made their way to the bus, all of them wide eyed and smiling, ready to surprise their fans today.

Maddy sent a text to Harry's phone. 'Jessica literally has NO idea what we're doing, she is going to cry, I'm just warning you. Thanks again for letting me bring her. XX'

'We're happy to have you bring her along, we're used to crying fans so all is well, sometimes we cry too. See you soon! XX'

Harry wondered how Maddy kept her composure so well, but it made him adore her more, he really felt like she was doing this for the right reasons, and knowing that one day he might not have to hide his relationship with the best person he'd ever known, was all it took for him to give Maddy his total and complete trust. 

They pulled up to the hall they'd "rented" to use for their meet and greet; little did the fans know that the hall was locked up and actually being used for a wedding that night, they'd just told the owners they'd need to use their parking lot for 15 minutes while they got the fans in their bus and took them to the actual location of the meet and greet...they were so anxious pulling up, they all got out and sat on the stairs around the building, the first car to pull up was carrying the girl who'd recently been in the hospital and her mother, she looked a bit fragile and had bandages on her arms and Harry ran up to hug her, he pulled her in close while he whispered that he was so glad she was still here, he asked her to promise him she'd never do anything like that again. It took all of 3 seconds for her to be crying in his arms, and another 2 for Harry to have tears in his own eyes, her mother stood back and took a photo showing so much emotion her own eyes began to tear up too. Her daughter was meeting the boys who literally helped glue her back together, Harry let Amanda go walk to the other boys and hugged her mom too, telling her it was okay that she'd got wrapped up in her own life, but thanking her for taking the time to make Amanda realize how special she truly was. Harry had the heart for this, today was just as much for him as it was for the fans.

The second car to pull up was Savannah, the darling girl who'd made them all awesome mix cds and sent sweet notes and snacks along with them. She had long brown hair pulled back into a pony tail and a pink V-Neck shirt on, she looked absolutely darling, like a little sister any of the lads would have had at home, her smile was shining brighter than the sun outside that day and she ran up to the band and began hugging then, her mom stood back and let her daughter have her moment, watching her with a great big smile. Harry walked up to Savannah's mom and told her thank you, since Savannah looked about 14 he was sure her mom had put a lot of effort into helping make sure everything was perfect for her gift to the band, she shook her head and said she'd do anything to make her daughter smile, and Harry nodded in appreciation at that.

The final car pulled in and Louis walked up to stand next to Harry, he wanted to hold his hand, hold on to his arm, anything to ground him, and Harry knew Louis was going mad standing next to him so he simply held out his hand in a thumbs up, and Louis pressed his right back to Harry, releasing the breath he had been holding in. Maddy got out of the car and walked around to Jessica's door, the moment she got out of the car she fell to her knees and cried, Maddy had been right. Louis and Harry ran over to her and embraced Jessica in a hug, helping to pull her up. 

"I had no idea, what even...what is happening?" She asked through her tears.

"Well love," Lou began, "Maddy wrote us an amazing letter and in it she talked about the importance of her best friend and who would we be to let Maddy meet us without the girl who inspired half of her writing?" Louis replied as he wiped a tear from her cheek.

"I don't think I'll ever forget this moment, Louis Tomlinson called ME, LOVE." she grinned from ear to ear and Louis just put his arm around her shoulder and walked her over to the other lads.

Harry went up to Maddy and embraced her in a big hug, whispering thanks to her, he looked back at her father and nodded at him, her father looked like a teddy bear, a very sweet man with kind eyes, he had such a good feeling about this, today was going to be perfect. Maddy walked with Harry and her dad to the area with the other winners and the rest of the boys.

"Okay everyone," Niall began, "We've got a bit of a surprise for you, you all went above and beyond with what you sent us for your contest entries, and what fun could we really have at a boring old hall? So, we're all going to load up on this bus, drive around two blocks, and we'll be at our actual location, that cool?" 

Everyone giggled and said yes of course and walked to the van, they were so excited, it was like there was electricity in the air, and the atmosphere only got more fun when they pulled up to the empty parking lot in front of Dave and Busters.

"We've rented the place out for the afternoon, hope that's okay with you ladies and gentlemen" Zayn said, and ran out of the bus through the doors, everyone followed laughing and thanking the boys for the treat. The pizza was already made, drink cups placed around tables and all the coins needed to play hours of games, the girls all went off with different members of the band and of course Maddy and Jessica stayed with Harry and Lou. They ate pizza and talked a little bit about who the girls were, more of their back stories, they wanted to save the heavy conversation for a little bit later, they had a few hours today and hopefully a few tomorrow to get to all of the business. Harry took them over to the basketball game and they played a few rounds of that, then air hockey, bowling, and some arcade style games. Maddy's father stepped up to Lou during a moment when he wasn't the center of attention and properly introduced himself.

"Hi Louis, I'm Daniel, I just wanted to get a word in for a second, what you guys did here today was great, these girls are never going to forget this."

"Daniel, it's so nice to meet you, and honestly, this is nothing, our fans have made us who we are, these girls deserve this and then some, and if I can say thank you to you also, just for...for offering to help us...Harry is the love of my life sir, and...I don't know, knowing that someone is willing to help us..to let us love, well that means more than I think I could ever put into words."

"It's not a problem Lou, I know Maddy probably told you a lot about us, but what she may have left out was my brother, I had to watch my parents be awful to him about his sexuality and break him down for years, he only changed once he was rid of the people who kept him down, and was able to be himself and love who he wanted. I vowed then to go into law and try to help people be the best versions of themselves, and sometimes that requires someone like me finding loopholes for people who get themselves into more than they bargained for."  
Niall's laugh interrupted their conversation and Daniel nodded at Lou to join the bunch, they'd talk again later and he mouthed a thanks and went to the middle of the game room. Niall was doubled over laughing and Jessica had tears running down her cheeks.

"Lou," he managed to get out, "This girl is the funniest girl I think I've ever met." 

"Niall I can tell, I think anyone in about a mile's ear shot of us can tell also"

The group laughed and Maddy elbowed Lou, "We've got a possible love connection here, don't ya think?" 

And Lou did, he could see Niall light up around the girl, but he was confused a bit.

"I was under the assumption your friend liked girls, that was why her parents were so hard on her."  
"Jessica likes a lot of things, but girls isn't one of them, her parents just don't love her for who she is, she's in college for arts and music instead of medicine like they wanted for her, she has a couple tattoos and piercings which isn't what her parents wanted for her, and the last guy she dated was the lead singer of the band, who she cheated on her Harvard bound boyfriend with."

"Ah, I get it, they are trying to change the core of who she is...that's almost worse than not accepting a kid for who they love."

"No worse," Maddy said, "Both situations have to be hard, and not just parents, but people who are supposed to help manage you that just want you to be money making clones of boy bands past."

"Maddy, you're a gem." Lou laughed, and she was, she just sparkled around the room with her laughter and dancing, which Harry saw and immediately ran up to her and joined in. Lou stood back watching, he loved Harry getting lost in music, he loved Harry getting lost in anything really. Zayn walked up and said management was on their way back to grab the boys in about 30, they had to rehearse and get ready for the show. 

Harry called the winners over to the tables again for their last surprise, there was a make shift photo boot for them to take photos in, but before that they each had an envelope addressed to them on the tables in front of them, they opened it up to find handwritten letters of thanks and words of inspiration from the boys, followed by two special seating tickets to the show that night, each guest would get to bring their mom or dad with them, and there was a ticket for Jessica too...the girls were in tears again, so thankful to have had this day with the band.  
"Girls no crying! It's picture time!" Niall shouted, threw his arm around Jessica and pulled her towards the photo area.

"Love connection." Zayn said, and the rest of them giggled.

Management pulled up and the boys hugged the girls goodbye and headed over to rehearsals, they were all running on a high, felt so good from the afternoon they'd had, especially Niall.

"So did you get her number?" Liam asked.

"Maybe I did..maybe I..oh of COURSE I got her number. She's proper gorgeous." Niall smiled.

Harry got a text from Maddy. 'My dad was happy to meet you two, he said he had a side conversation with Louis and asked me to tell you to remind Louis that this is gonna be okay, we'll meet up with you guys tomorrow around 11 if that's okay, we can show you guys around the city a bit, maybe Niall can help persuade them to let you all come out since it seems he and Jessica have hit it off, and we'll be able to talk then.'

'Maddy I don't know how we'll ever repay you, but I need to find a way, you're amazing, we're so excited for tomorrow, 11 sounds perfect! Gotta rehearse now, see you again soon. xx'

Niall, Harry, and Lou went to speak to management really quickly and they seemed more okay than they expected about the idea of the boys staying in town and exploring with a couple locals, all Niall had to do was bat his eye lashes, smile, and start laughing while he talked, he drew you in no matter who you were, when he began doing that. They agreed but said if they went anywhere remotely high profile they'd need extra security, so they said they wouldn't and they could bring Josh (their drummer) along too. They walked away happy, this plan was falling into action, and their show was starting, they'd go on in 30 minutes so Lou and Harry found their sweet spot on a sofa back stage and cuddled up a bit, planting kisses on each others cheek before pulling away a little more than either of them wanted to, they were smooth sailing as of now and didn't want to push it. The 30 minutes flew by and before they knew it the show was over, the lads did a final bow, thanked the crowd, and walked back stage. They celebrated another amazing evening before making their way back to the hotel to call it a night. They all walked up to Harry and Lou's room for a couple drinks, and Lou offered to let the lads sleep over, but they said they'd give Lou & Harry some alone time so they all decided to sleep at Zayn's room instead.

Harry locked the door after the boys left and felt himself be pushed up against the door, Louis biting into the skin at the back and sides of his neck.

"I don't know what it is but I've wanted you so bad, all day." Lou panted.

"I know, fuck I know Lou, me too." Harry replied as he turned around. Lou kept him pinned to the door and kissed his mouth passionately before jumping into Harry's arms so he could carry them to their bed, tonight was going to be quick and rough, they were both tired but there was no way they were getting sleep until they'd both gotten off.

Within moments they were naked and on the bed, lost in a mess of sweaty limbs, gasps, a slew of curse words, and Lou being 3 fingers deep inside of Harry, making come here motions and grazing his prostate harder each time.

"Lou, fuck, baby, I need you, right now." Harry gasped, and Lou thrust into him, it was quick and messy and their kisses were sloppy and their teeth clashed into each others harshly but they didn't care...the only thing coming out of Harry's mouth was moaned versions "Lou, fuck" and they were matched by "God, Harry" from Lou and in moments they were at the height of their orgasms together, Lou allowed himself to go limp before pulling out of Harry and he just rolled over and pulled Harry in, they may regret the mess in the morning but they were too exhausted to care tonight.

"You're filthy" Louis told Harry.

"You fucking love it." He replied, and it was true, Louis loved a wrecked, messy Harry falling asleep in his arms.


	15. Stole My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry & Lou get to chat with Maddy's dad, and Harry puts a ring on Lou's finger. :)

Lou was up first the next morning, which is something that never happened. He was anxious and nervous and he couldn't keep still so he decided to order in breakfast for him and the other lads, he questioned if he should wake them or let them sleep for a while but he couldn't be the only one stuck in his thoughts anymore. He went to his room to kiss Harry awake but Harry had other plans for him.

"Baby, come here." Harry said as he pulled Lou in, "I heard you pacing around the living room, you've been at it for like 20 minutes babe, I need you to come lay down with me, let me run my fingers through your hair. Today is gonna go perfectly babe, there isn't any room for error. When this is all over, it'll be so worth it, I know I'm allowing myself to dream here, think a little too far into the future and all that, but I swear to kiss you in public, to hold you, to be able to tell the world how absolutely in love with you I am? Goodness Lou, that's the dream."

They heard a knock at the door, room service, but suddenly that wasn't as important as this, the distance between them was non existent, Harry's hand was on Lou's cheek and he was kissing him softly, their moments of passion usually overtook their general ability to just make out, so this was nice for both of them, nice to just enjoy each others lips. Lou didn't mean to, but somewhere in between lazy kisses and holding hands he'd fallen back asleep in Harry's warm arms and Harry let him rest there until he knew his breathing was shallow, his heart rate slow, and he himself got out of bed, called the lads up, and put the breakfast out on plates. Harry knew he'd have to warm Lou's up for him when he finally woke up again, but the lad had sunken eyes already his morning and he knew he needed to get the extra couple hours of sleep.

"Are you nervous, Harry?" Liam asked.

"I don't know if nervous is the word, anxious maybe, excited even, but I've got a good feeling about all this." He replied.

"I do too lad, and I know you and Louis need this...listen, it's been a rough road, we all know that, and we're all here to hear out Maddy and her dad, to listen to any loophole he thinks he's found to get us in a better situation, you two are worth it, ya know that right?"

"I know, it really does mean the world to both of us, all of you do," Harry began, "That's why I kind of hoped you and I could go out and pick up something for Louis. Daniel asked me to print off a couple copies of a few things, but once this is done we can head out. The other lads can wait here and get him together once he wakes up, I just...I want to do something special for him this evening after we've had our meeting."

"Of course Harry, anything for you, where are we going to go?"

"A little jeweler I scouted out yesterday." Harry said with a sly smile.

A large grin appeared on Zayn's face, he saw the look of absolute bliss on Harry's and he knew this day was just going to keep getting better.

Harry kissed Liam and Niall on the cheek, asking the boys to get Lou up and ready in 45 minutes, and reminding them to get in touch with Josh. He told them they had a few errands to run but they'd all meet up at the park at 11. He hurried out the door dragging Zayn along who left the boys with a shrug and a wink. It was beautiful outside that day, both boys would have loved to walk, but they knew they needed to keep as concealed as they could, especially if they wanted to be able to go out later, so they took a driver and ended up at the shop within moments. 

"Hello gentlemen, is there anything I can help you with?" A small voice asked without first looking up.

"As a matter of fact there is, I'm looking for a ring for my boyfriend, something to signify that one day I want to marry him, I guess you could call it an engagement ring, but I want to get him a better one down the line."

Still looking down the girl asked, "So a promise ring?"

"No, this is a bit more important than that.."Harry said with a smirk

She finally looked up and saw Harry and Zayn and almost lost her footing, I am so sorry, I was preoccupied with the order from the people who were in here before, I...I'm sorry, what, are you...what?"

"Sweetheart, lead us to the rings please, we'll explain once we see them." Zayn said.

"Yes of course," she began as she led them to the counter of men's rings, "I, what does, L...he...what color jewelry were you looking for?"

"You can say his name, it's just you Zayn and I here, Lou prefers silver, or at least that's what I'd like to see on his finger, and please, I have all this paperwork I could make you sign, but, can we keep this between us?"

"Of course, I love you two together...Larry Stylinson is probably my most searched tag on tumblr..."

"Thanks sweet girl, so what do you like Zayn?" he asked before peering into the glass.

About 30 minutes later the boys left with a small box in Harry's pocket, the helpful girl at the jewelry store had a new bracelet from Harry himself, and Zayn had a huge smile painted on his face in expectation for the rest of the evening.

They walked to the park and got there a few minutes early which left them time to stop by the snow cone cart and grab a couple while they walked around. They took in the warm sunshine, the fresh air, the sounds of freedom, something they didn't get to often enjoy...it wasn't long before a skinny pair of arms was wrapped around Harry's waist, he never needed to ask who they belonged to, Louis sat a few inches shorter than Harry so he always just curled around his back and Harry reveled in the way it felt for the shorter boy to wrap himself around his back. Harry turned around and kissed Louis, he then offered up a few bites of his snow cone.

"No wonder your lips are even more red than usual." Louis replied while taking the bite. "They're usually only that color in the bedroom."

Harry nearly choked on his own large bite of snow cone before laughing with the red color moving to his cheeks, after all this while Louis still made Harry blush, giggle, and get nervous like a kid with their first crush. 

"I love you, Mr. Styles" 

"I love you more, Mr. Tomlinson."

The two went in for a kiss before they heard the cute yell of "HIIIII BOYS" coming from Maddy and Jessica, following them was Madison's dad with a briefcase but looking otherwise very casual. They ran up and waited for their turns hugging her, and Josh had a pretty large smile when it was his turn to greet her. Niall was blushing as Jessica leaned into his arm and Maddy's dad laughed.

"I know I'm here to find a loophole for you lads, but if we're not careful we're going to be leaving here with more than just one romantic situation" he joked. The thing was though, he was right, Jessica and Niall had hit it off amazingly, and Josh was keeping a smile falling out of Maddy's mouth. Louis and Harry got Liam's attention and told him they were going to go to the pizza parlor across the street and talk with Daniel, he waved them before returning to the group who'd decided to go to the bumper car track.

Daniel ordered a large Chicago style peperoni style pizza to split With Harry and Lou before getting down to it.

"I know you're both probably nervous, so I'll show you what I have found, did you bring the copies I asked for?" Daniel looked at Harry.

"Yes sir, right here they are." Harry slid him a few documents and he looked them over.

"Okay, so let's get down to it, under the first amendment you are granted access to freedom of speech, however the document you signed kind of did it's best to take that away. I know your management isn't going to back out of the deal, but the agreement is unconscionable and we could try it from that angle, yes you are making them money but at the expense of your happiness and general freedom, I think we could put up a fight against them, would it be easy? No, it would take time, we'd need certain circumstances to be written down or documented as proof, and we could use fraud in it too. The documents said they would leave your private lives alone, but Maddy assures me that hasn't been held up on their end also, they've been invading your lives on your breaks away from tour and your other personal living arrangements. This doesn't sound like a lot I'm sure, but these are two big points we could take to court, and the publicity this could bring Modest alone is something that they may not want to deal with, so they may settle outside of even having to take this to court. I have outlined a few things here that I think could be really useful to both of you, I want to give you time to discuss this with each other and the rest of the band, like I said we'd need certain instances in which they've crossed the lines of their contract and documentation would be helpful, but I really think we can work this out for you lads, all of you. There are tons of other companies who would be happy to work with you, I could help you as much as you needed."

Lou sat speechless, letting Daniel's words sink in, and Harry was able to speak up a little. "I didn't expect it to sound so official, I...I really believe you, I, I have some proof of some things they've done to cross the lines of our contract, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that we don't like to talk about, but I was hoping one day, maybe, somehow, we'd be able to get out of this, so a few of the big things, yeah...I've got some proof."

Lou looked at Harry nervously, looked at Daniel, and finally spoke himself. "I, thank you Daniel," he began before getting up to hug the man across the table, "I don't think you know how much, God I'm not going to cry, but, how much this really really means to us. I, we've had a rough go at things so far, to think we could just be happy, and sooner than later, you're an angel Daniel." He finished, shrinking into Harry.

"You two touch lives every day with your music, but more than that, with your hearts, I'd do anything for my little girl, and when she came to me with this semi wild idea, I knew I had to do it for her, and for you lads. You deserve more than this, I truly hope you know that. I also know you're young and while this is important; you've got a day off with friends who are waiting for you. I'll be by later tonight to get Maddy and Jessica, go, have fun, we'll discuss more later, of course we'll be in touch not just today, but for the next couple weeks should you decide you want to pursue this."

Harry cut him off without meaning to, "Sir there is no question, we want to pursue this, the rest of the lads already said they'd do whatever it takes, we just need to get some things in order for you, some circumstances and the proof you asked for, we've got another few days off where we could have some travel time at the end of next month if that works somehow for you."

"Of course lads, I'd be happy to set it up. I'm going to stay out a bit longer, do some shopping for the Mrs. but please, dinner is on me, eat up and go enjoy the day. It is a pleasure to be working with the two of you." Daniel smiled and shook hands with the lads before walking out of the restaurant, leaving Harry and Louis to enjoy the silence, the promise, the hope that he'd left them with.

"I know we should get back to the group, but can we just, can we sit here like this for a few more moments?" Louis asked.

"Of course baby, I want to soak it in a bit more too." Harry said.

 

A bit later they were rejoined with the group who'd decided to hit up a bowling alley for some beers and to embarrass themselves since no one was particularly good at bowling. They enjoyed the environment though, and the company. Liam and Zayn had buddied off as usual, but things were different today, Niall was in constant fits of laughter due to Jessica, Josh and Maddy were basically attached at the hip and Harry and Lou just sat back and took it in. They were all smiles, all laughs, could things be like this all the time, could life stay this good? Harry had a small box in his pocket and Zayn would look at him from time to time through the afternoon, finally Harry told Lou he'd be back soon and he walked out the front door, a few moments later Zayn walked out and asked if he knew when he wanted to ask. Harry told him after they left the bowling alley he wanted to go to the boardwalk Maddy had told them about, and they said yes, so they hailed a couple taxi's and rode the 30 minutes to it. Maddy and Josh jumped out ahead of everyone else and paid the 2 dollars to walk on it, the lads could fish if they wanted to, they had a restaurant/bar with awesome shrimp, and the sunset wasn't too far away, so they'd have the perfect place for a good view. They went to the restaurant and asked for a table facing the sunset outside, they had two left, so they pushed them together and told them to get comfortable, of course a few fans noticed the lads but after a very long spiel from Niall they agreed to let the boys have a low key night after posing for some photos and signing autographs, they loved when the fans were just relaxed, that way they could be too. The sky changed from blues to pinks and purples and Harry nodded at Zayn, he pulled his chair to the side a bit so Harry could stand up right in front of Louis.

"Mr. Tomlinson," Harry began, "You are everything to me, you are my moon and stars, my sunshine, my rain. You are the epitome of heaven and hell to me, of love of light, of frustration too but the necessary kind. You make me laugh, God you make me laugh so much sometimes it hurts my cheeks, you make me think about the world a little differently, you make me love more, forgive often...you've filled my life up to this point with so much joy, I can't even imagine how many more years of surprises we'll have together, but I hope the amount is endless. We're young Lou, we have so much time ahead of us, so many things we still get to accomplish, so I know marriage is a long way off for us, but I also know that it's you for me, so I was hoping that you'd say yes when I ask you to be my forever, I plan on doing this all again one day, closer to a time when marriage is more within our grasp, but my forever started the day I met you in the bathroom, and I want you to know that today, today was a look into a new type of future with you, and I want this day to be memorable for us always. I love you Louis Tomlinson," Harry said as he got to one knee, "Be mine always?" He pulled out the box with the ring, and looked up at Louis.

"Harry Styles, are you...how...are you even real? Of course, oh my God, Harry you're already my forever, of course, yes."

Harry slid the ring on Louis' finger and they embraced, the group with them applauded and there were hugs all around and cheers and people buying them rounds of drinks but none of that mattered, none of it meant anything to Lou because the silver ring on his finger and Harry's face next to his was all that had ever existed before and was all that would ever exist again.


	16. One Way Or Another

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was just a short kind of fluffy chapter except for the date with Eleanor, but I needed to slip it in for argument's sake, it helps their case with Daniel :)

"Oh fuck, Lou..." Harry panted and arched his back to allow Lou to push in further, "I, fuck, you feel so good."

"Harry, I...I'm so, God I love you." He wanted to say more, but the words weren't important right now, they'd spent the evening talking, surrounding themselves in words, in 'i'm so luckys', in 'I love yous'....the group had spent the evening telling them words, 'congratulations', 'you two are perfect', etc...right now all Lou wanted to hear were the moans and gasps that came from Harry's mouth when he twisted his hip and angled in to hit his prostate.

"Fuck, Lou," he panted again before throwing his head back in ecstasy. Lou was letting out his own noises too, knowing that he could drive Harry this wild got him off, it made him feel like he was on top of the world. Harry looked wrecked underneath him...his lips were bruised, his eyes blown out, bruises all around his hips and bite marks in his skin, his chest rising and falling harshly and his body shaking, this was heaven for Lou, this was everything.

Louis slowed down, wanting to savor more of wrecked Harry beneath him, he pulled out until Harry made a noise and tightened up around him, scared to let Lou slip out...he grinned and pushed back in slowly, making Harry whimper at the sudden change of pace. Harry took a deep breath in and opened his eyes and gave Lou a look unlike one he'd ever seen before, he looked totally in love and lost and sexy and vulnerable all at once, he'd asked Lou to be his future tonight, he'd given him his heart and now he was giving him his body and in that moment Lou realized exactly how lucky of a man he was. He leaned down to kiss Harry gently, slowly exploring the younger boy's mouth, meeting his tongue and licking into it gently, he nibbled at Harry's bottom lip and felt him smile at the sensation. He was still moving so slowly in and out of Harry that they both felt like they might fall completely apart, but what a fucking perfect way to do it. 

"I love you so much Harry Styles." Lou whispered against his neck before he started pushing in a little harder, and Harry was close, his entire body shuddered and his eyes began to get lost and Lou knew he'd be able to get Harry off without touching him, but why deny himself the pleasure of wrapping his hand around Harry's cock? He kept thrusting in at the right angle while pulling at Harry until he was begging Lou to come too.

"Please, Lou, I want...I need you to come with me. Lou, fuck, please."

That was all it took, they both fell over the ledge together, exploding into nirvana together, coming with each others names falling off their lips. Louis fell on to Harry and licked the sweat off of his neck, then his collar bones, he brushed the matted hair off of his forehead and gazed longingly into his hazel eyes...he was convinced Harry was an angel, there was no way he was just human...no way.

He walked to the bathroom and wet a towel, brought it back and cooled Harry off, then he blew across his skin to dry him off before curling around the younger boy and pulling him in close.

"Tonight, I can't even put it into words, tonight was amazing baby, I fall more in love with you every single day, I...I never want this to end."

"Now it never has to," Harry replied, "I'm not ever letting you to Louis Tomlinson."

He kissed his neck and purred before letting his head snuggle closer into Lou's neck and escape into dreams. Lou followed him soon after, never having felt this kind of contentment in his life.

 

The next morning the other lads didn't wake them until they absolutely had to, knowing their late night celebration had probably left both boys worn out. They were rehearsing for the night's show and Liam couldn't help but laugh at the way Harry seemed to have a bit of a limp, Harry just grinned and shot him a look that said 'At least I got some last night' to which Liam had no reply. It sucked being away from Sophia but there was always Skype or the way she purred his name into the phone when he talked about how much he wanted to be on top of her...he was starting to get lost in his own thoughts and Harry noticed and laughed when he poured cold water down his face. They made it through rehearsals and had about 3 hours to relax before show time, they put themselves back on the bus and decided to talk more about what Daniel had told Lou and Harry.

"He said there were a couple ways we could approach this, and they both seemed to make sense, what they're doing isn't right, even if we are making money for them, they aren't allowed to take away out freedom, our general rights...they also said we could spin it as fraud, the papers outline everything better than I could say it, so look it over and we'll go from there. I know it's not an easy road for members in a boy band to come out, not a good look for us to be gay, especially together, and I know that you all say you'd do anything for us, but I mean, this weighs heavy on you lads too, we don't want to be the reason you lose fame or fans...we don't want to hurt our future together."

"Harry, are you quite finished?" Liam began, "The only thing I've heard from any of that is you being ridiculous, you would never be the reason for our future to be harmed, we started this thing together and we'll ride it out together, no matter what happens. We love you, both of you, and the last thing we want is for you to keep being hidden, keep having to be scared, so afraid...you didn't see yourselves a couple months ago lads, but we did, I thought you would both end up depressed, or worse, and I won't let that happen again, not on my watch."

Niall and Zayn just nodded in agreement, and without further words, the papers were spread out, the other boys were getting caught up to speed, and Lou had Harry's hand in his, Harry playing with the ring on Lou's finger.

Before they knew it show time had creeped upon them, so they all got changed into their stage clothes and walked back into the venue, the air was light although they had a lot to think about, a lot on their plates, they all knew this was the right decision, so before they went on, they stood together and prayed, but this time, they didn't just thank God for their opportunities and tonights show, they prayed for guidance on how to begin this next step.

They were working their way through the set list and the time came for the lads to sing 'Little Things' and the smile that came upon Harry's face was the most beautiful thing Lou had ever sang, the fans had all caught the boys serenading each other with this song before, but tonight it was even more evident, in the back of Lou's mind, after he'd given his love heart eyes for almost 4 minutes, he knew there would be a date with El sometime this week, something juicy to make him seem like they were doing just fine, but he didn't care, nothing else in the world mattered except the way Harry blushed when Lou looked at him like he was the only person in the room even when they were surrounded by thousands of fans.

They exited the stage with a wave and a final bow after their last song and they were all exhausted, they went back to the bus and wasted no time crawling into their bunks and falling asleep, not waking up once time through the night. Harry kissed Lou's forehead before falling asleep, and that was that just a small little part of the routine they'd get to keep for the rest of their lives.

The next morning Harry sent a text to Daniel.

'The other lads are okay with everything, I can email you some of the proof I've already got so far, I'll do that right now, you can look it over and tell me what else you need, what else to look out for, and we can still get together in a little bit of time. Louis expects to have a date with Eleanor this week, so maybe I could find a way to argue with someone in management about it, perhaps record it while it's happening? I don't know, I don't want to tell the others but I'm a bit nervous, I know we're doing the right thing but I feel like this is riding on my shoulders and I'm scared to mess up, I don't want to let them down. Thanks again, for all of this, and be looking or an email soon. Also, Josh wants to come with us again when we meet if that's okay, he'd like to ask you properly if he can court Maddy, he's a good lad, maybe there was a bigger force driving us all together than we knew. xxHarry'

Louis looked up at Harry just as he was placing his phone down, "Go back to sleep my sweets, everything is fine." Harry told him as he pulled him in for a slow morning kiss. Harry felt Lou smile in the middle of it and his knees went weak, it's a good thing he was lying down because he's sure he would have hit the ground, nothing made his heart happier than feeling Lou's happiness, literally feeling it on his skin. 

This could be forever, he thought, this will be forever. 

Their forever always got interrupted though, but the boys were prepared for it this time, so it was no surprise to Lou when he got the call from management that El would be flown in for a date tonight, she'd get in 4 hours before show time, so he'd pick her up at the airport, take her out before show time, and be "caught" sneaking into a hotel while hanging all over each other. Harry took the phone from Lou's hand and pressed record on his at the same moment he pressed speaker on Lou's

"How much longer do you really think people are going to buy this charade?" Harry asked, "I mean, Louis looked at me like I was the only one in the room last night, which you're obviously aware of because damage control is being brought in rather quickly today boys."

He was greeted with a sharp reply..."Mr. Styles, you seem to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, perhaps you should watch that tone before you talk to me like that again. Louis looks good with Eleanor, she looks right on his arm, I can't say the same for you and neither can your fan base. If I were you I'd sit back and let him treat his girlfriend to a date Harry, maybe you should hit the bunk again."

"I don't want to hit a bunk, I want to spend time with Louis today, you don't separate any of the other boys." He protested.

"The other lads don't get caught kissing in bars by fans now do they? Do you know hard that is to cover up, the two of you have become quite reckless lately and I don't have the time for it, no fan regardless of what they say on their blogs or their twitter accounts is going to accept the two of you actually being together. They want you for themselves, that keeps them coming back which keeps us making money. Now I'm going to hang up and make a couple phone calls and I expect this to be blown over by tonight when I see you. Good day lads." 

There was a silence at the other end of the line as Harry stopped recording and hung up the phone, he knew this was a set up, he knew that Louis didn't want to go out with El, but he didn't want to have to deal with it either, so he took management's idea and hit the bunk, Lou wanted to walk after him, he wanted to hold him, kiss him, stand up for himself the way Harry just had, but he knew that maybe he should just let Harry have this moment, this time to be upset, and to be honest, Lou needed it too.

A shower and a fresh set of clothes later Lou was waiting for the car to pick up and take him to the airport, he lifted the curtain back from Harry's bunk and kissed his forehead, then his cheek, then brought his lips to Harry's soft mouth and kissed the boy until he was awake. Harry put his hand in Lou's hair and pulled him in closer, the kiss quickly became needy, both of them itching to feel the other all over their skin before Lou had to go put on a face for a few hours. 

"I'll miss you," Harry whispered to him before turning over, Lou was sure he was hiding a frown.

"I'll miss you too Harry, it'll only be a few hours and I'll be back...listen, I know what happened last time, but...it's different now, it won't happen like that again, I know it wont, trust me okay? I trust you." Lou told him, and that must have been what Harry needed to hear because he turned back over with a half smile, gave him one more kiss, and told him he'd better get going. Lou walked away and took a deep breath, El wasn't awful company, and he meant it when he said he trusted Harry, this time would be different, it had to be.

Lou picked up a tan El at the airport about an hour later, she was wearing a thousand watt smile and looked gorgeous, he threw his arms around her in an embrace and she whispered a hello in his ear without getting too close, it'd be a cute shot for the paps but she wouldn't cross any lines. Lou hadn't told the rest of the lads but during the few weeks that he was miserable about Harry cheating on him, he'd actually confided in El, and she agreed to find ways to make them look happy without crossing any lines that would drive Harry to bad decisions again. Louis really appreciated El, he didn't exactly know how to explain it to the other lads, but honestly, this was her job, and although he hated it, and didn't really understand what kind of girl would sign up to be someone's pretend girlfriend, at least she was nice and considerate of Harry's feelings, which is luckier than most people got in these types of situations, he assumed.

He wanted to do something nice for El, so he took her to a quick lunch then hit a boutique where he purchased a new bag, wallet, pair of shoes and skinny jeans for her, they went next door and grabbed a pair of earrings, all coming directly from Lou instead of her 'management' given credit card, she didn't understand at first but she smiled and whispered into his cheek that she'd repay him.

"El this is for you, from me, I...I know this isn't easy for you, and, I don't know I just wanted to thank you for working with me, for understanding my situation with Harry and respecting it, this is just a gift from a friend to another friend."

"Friends, I like that Lou, I know I'm not the one you really want to be spending all your time with, but this gets lonely," El admitted, "Sometimes it's nice to feel like, I don't know, appreciated too, ya know?" 

"I do," Lou began, "I mean it when I say you are appreciated El, and he squeezed her hand in the back seat of the car. He asked if she'd like to come back to the bus to hang out with him and the lads, and she excitedly said yes, he sent a quick text to Zayn telling him he'd explain later but he invited El to hang out and he wanted them all to get to know her a bit. Zayn was okay with the idea and said Harry was still sleeping, Lou asked him to let Harry remain that way until he got there, he wanted to wake him up himself. They spent about 30 minutes in the front of the bus together with Zayn, Niall, and Liam before Lou excused himself to go talk to Harry. 

"Baby, wake up." He whispered in Harry's ear. "I love you, I want to see your pretty eyes, not just the eye lids and long lashes that hide them." Harry giggled beneath him and started to open his eyes. "Ah there you are, my little prince. Wake up, I invited El back, I want the lads to get to know her, she was so helpful today Harry, I...I talked to her whenever I was mad at you and she understood you, she said she'd have been upset too, probably acted in a similar fashion and she told me she'd find ways to still make us look 'together' without crossing lines with you and I, and she did, everything went well today Harry, I...I don't know I don't expect you to fall in love with her, or to even really want to like her, but I mean, if she's got to be part of this, maybe she gets lonely too?"

"I want to know her a bit Lou, I don't want to be her best friend, but I appreciate that she's taking the time to respect us as much as she can in the given situation, let me shower and throw on some clothes and I'll come out and talk okay? I love you Louis, thank you for looking out for me, you're always taking care of me." Harry kissed him softly, and Lou wondered if this was all too easy, but wasn't willing to argue against it.

Lou walked back into the front and found the group lost in a fit of laughter and he felt warm, maybe this really was going to work out after all he thought...and the next hour they spent together joined with Harry just solidified that to him, he looked around and saw them all lighter than he had in a long time, their smiles were brighter, El looked happy, and he was curled up in the lap of the boy he loved, a silver ring on his finger and kisses on his cheek and life, he thought, couldn't quite get better.


	17. Live While We're Young

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took a bit, and it might not be my best work, I had a friend pass away last week, her visitation was this week, and my friend who passed 2 years ago's birthday was today, so I've just been rather out of it...The next chapter will be the big talk with Daniel, I was going to put it in this chapter but I want it to have it's own and I just wasn't up to writing it so I decided to add a little bit of a twist with Zayn and Liam to tide you over.
> 
> You're all amazing, thanks for still reading. :)

Lou had been right in thinking life couldn't get any better..it almost seemed like things were going too well, sometimes he wanted to pause time, or to look over his shoulder and find the shadow creeping up to drop a bombshell on everything good they had, but it didn't come, it never came. Lou and Harry were better than ever, Niall and Jessica were hitting it off extremely well, Maddy and Josh had decided to 'go steady' and even the dynamic between Liam and Zayn was different, things were changing in big ways, and Lou kind of figured if it was going to happen, now would be the time to let it.

It was the night of their last show in America, they'd have a few days off before doing 3 months worth of their tour in England and then coming back to the states for 2 more months of shows. Their first schedule of concerts had all but sold out and the demand for them back in a few of the same cities and some new ones was high, so they added the last 2 months on as a thank you to the fans. The lads would go visit Maddy and Jessica during 2 of their off days before their trip to England, also allowing Harry and Lou to talk to Daniel. They'd gathered up some info over the last few weeks, some situations they were all put in that seemed to go against their original contract with Modest. They'd staged a few situations to make the relationship between El and Lou look obviously forced and El was willing to help with a smile, she was actually cooking lunch for the lads in the hotel room as they rested before show time.

"I hope you guys don't mind me asking to cook for you, but I wanted to tell you all something, and I was hoping that maybe you could help me figure it out...if that's okay." Eleanor began.

"Of course El," Lou began, "I'll help set the table and we'll talk, what's going on in that head of yours?" 

"Well, I know I offered to cut back a little bit on the PDA for you and Harry, but the truth is, I've...I've been dating someone and we got into a pretty big fight because he doesn't understand why I'm doing what I do, and I just, I feel lost and trapped and I want to help you all, I know I have to anyway with the contact but, I need help Lou, I really like him and I don't want to lose him."

"Eleanor, this is...this is kind of perfect timing because we're actually going to meet with a lawyer like..tomorrow. I didn't want to tell you because I don't even know if this is possible, I mean I've got my hopes all the way up but I didn't want to bring anyone else to that point with me and then let us all be disappointed. I don't want you to be looking forward to something that may never happen and I had no idea..."

"Louis," Eleanor interrupted, "I adore you but you're not making any sense, what lawyer, what are you excited about, you're rambling!" She said with a giggle.

"Sorry," Lou began, "I, well, Maddy's dad is a lawyer and he's been trying to help us with this contract. They think they can get us out of it without even having to take it to court, we've been gathering evidence and some of the way I was asking you to make things look staged was for that purpose...Harry and I tried to find ways to make them get angry with us so that we could use it in our argument."

"Louis that is amazing, I...for both of you, but I mean, I might be out of it too?" She asked with a grin.

"Of course El, look, why don't you come with us, meet Daniel, have a couple days off with us just to hang around, you know management would love it and maybe if you asked them to fly your 'friend' out they'd be willing to to keep you happy too?" He looked at El who already had her phone out tapping at the screen and within seconds she was speaking to Modest about flying out her friend Max for a couple days, so she could have appearances with Lou but have her pal there too. They agreed, she had them like putty in her hands, and she flew over to Lou and threw her arms around his neck.

"Thank you, so much, for everything." She said as she kissed his cheek.

"Hey you two, that's enough of that." Harry said coming up and taking Lou into his arms, but his tone was one with humor in it. The last couple weeks were easier on Harry and Eleanor too, after they stayed up one night talking for 3 hours and they let everything come out, he realized that although he'd never be okay with the reason she took the job, or what she did, that she was a person too, with her own life, and Harry hating her didn't make this any easier on anyone. 

"Oh baby," Lou stated kissing Harry's cheeks, "El is a doll but she's missing a vital piece of anatomy that you seem to have pressed against my bum right now ...she just, doesn't do it for me" he laughed into Harry's mouth as they kissed, things heating up pretty quickly, almost enough for them to opt out of lunch but they were interrupted.

"Guys, after lunch...just, calm down and come eat with us, it's a good afternoon." El told them with a smile, and she was right, it was another good day, and they were lucky for it.

Early the next morning the lads were at the airport waiting on their flight to Maddy... their shoulders light and free of weight, tasting a bit of what their freedom could really be like if all of this really worked out. Eleanor got a ring and walked over a few chairs to talk to Max, he was already in town waiting for them to arrive so he was going to hit a few stores at the strip mall close by and meet them back at the airport in time to pick her up. Harry sat in the chair next to Zayn who was seated between him and Louis while Liam sat on the other side of Lou. They were all talking together but somehow still off in their own little conversations and Lou looked at Harry with a smirk on his face and nodded his head towards Liam and Zayn when they giggled and let their touches last a little longer than they used to on each other's knees.

Niall was happier too, talking on his own phone to Jessica. 

"You have no idea how happy I am to see your smile in a few hours, I've been counting down, you look great when you're all snuggled up in a blanket when we face time but to know that I'm not far away from touching your face is giving me butterflies." Niall spilled into the phone, and her reaction must have been something equally as sweet because the look on his face and his heart eyes said everything, the young lad was smitten, twitter pated, totally head over heels for this girl.

Their plane was finally called and the group started to board, Josh almost running late enough to miss it, he'd been out shopping too, stumbling onto the aircraft with a pink bag in his hand full of surprises for Maddy. Lou & Harry couldn't help but smile and decide to go into matchmaking if one direction ever became largely unpopular, which wasn't likely, but they sometimes liked to dream of what they'd be doing if they weren't in the band. The flight was quick which was a joy for them, they were used to flying over continents, not just states, and while it barely left them time to get a nap in, they all landed very relaxed while they loaded into a van waiting for them out back to drive them to the hotel they'd be staying in. Eleanor split up from the group to meet Max and told Lou she'd call him in the morning. They weren't expected in the city again, and the hotel they'd talked management into letting them stay in wasn't too fancy, so they hoped they'd be able to kind of sneak around this time like they had not too long ago. Modest had made some calls guaranteeing privacy at their hotel and two places the lads could go to dinner, but warning them that they were to be on their best appearances if they wanted to go out and explore elsewhere, and they knew what kind of consequences that might bring them, the conversation pointing then to Harry and Lou who said okay in approval all while having the talk recorded. They pulled up into the back of the hotel and took the service elevator up to their floor where Maddy and Jessica were waiting...Josh ran off the elevator first picking Maddy up and placing a chaste kiss on her lips before pulling her into a hug that enveloped her body, and not long after that embrace Niall was smiling like a kid in a candy store as Jessica ran up to him and threw her tiny arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss, theirs was less chaste, more longing which made Niall blush. Harry and Lou pressed past the couples and told Zayn and Liam to join them, they'd all agreed to go to a club later but the couples were going to go to dinner and Harry and Lou just wanted to relax with Zayn and Liam and play video games. They didn't realize it'd been hours of them playing until Niall texted with a selfie of he and Jessica and they'd noticed the sun in the early stages of setting. Harry ordered a couple pizzas and some wings for the lads to share while Zayn found the case of beer and bottle of Jack Daniels with a sticky note from Maddy that told them to enjoy, the cab would be by to pick them up around 10 and pre gaming was encouraged...she fit in perfectly already. Zayn took a couple beers over along with two mixed drinks and the pizza arrived at the exact same time so the lads cut lose a bit and took some shots and just enjoyed their down time before they'd be dancing for hours at the club later.

As a bit of time went on Louis and Harry decided to shower and get dressed which may have just been an excuse for them to get each other naked and alone for a few minutes, but Zayn and Liam barely noticed their absence as they snuck down the hall to the bathroom.

"That's a bit different, isn't it?" Lou asked Harry.

"You noticed too, they seem a bit...off, don't they?" He agreed.

"Tonight is going to get interesting my love, maybe we should get the ball rolling." Lou told him as he pressed a hard kiss into his lips...he wasted no time pulling Harry's clothes off followed quickly by his own and getting the curly haired boy quickly into the shower. He dropped quickly to his knees and kissed into Harry's hips and thighs until he felt Harry harden up against him, he smiled up at Harry though hooded eyes and took him fast into his mouth and down his throat.

"Fuck, I'm not...I can't...I'm not gonna last long if you keep that up." Harry let out between labored breaths, but Lou just looked up at him and smiled, letting up enough to pull Harry out just so he could get his hand around Harry's base and allowed himself to pump Harry's length as he took the tip of his cock into his mouth and lapped around it. He felt Harry tense up, saw his toes curl a bit and knew his orgasm was seconds away, with that he moved his hand and swallowed Harry down again feeling him shoot immediately down his throat. He stood up and licked Harry off of his lips suggestively before pressing another hard kiss into the boys lips, Harry wanted to return the favor but Louis said they were running out of time, and winked as he told Harry he could make it up to him later. They washed each other's hair and toweled off before going to grab the suitcase they'd left in the living room...Lou was walking a few steps ahead of Harry when he suddenly gasped. Liam was sitting on the sofa and Zayn was in his lap, his hands on either side of Liam's head and his lips pressed against him, Harry froze behind Lou and they realized the gasp Lou let out hadn't been loud enough for them to hear. They looked at each other in bewilderment before deciding to make a louder noise to startle the two before they had to try to figure out what this meant, Harry messed up though when he let out another loud gasp as Liam moved his hand down Zayn's back and let his fingers dip below his jeans.

"Woah oh...I...we...we were just...um, are you two, it's getting late....We don't want to miss the cab." Zayn spit out as he stood up quickly off Liam's lap, showing off the fact that he was incredibly hard in his jeans.

"Uh yeah, we just forgot our suitcase, so we were going to throw our clothes on and head down to the lobby?" Harry half said half asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to the restroom, and I'll be ready to go." Liam said and scurried down the hall. The air in the room was thick with tension and Louis was never good at situations like this so he just did the first thing that came to his mind. He ran over to Zayn and laughed into his neck.

"I told you lad, it's fucking amazing when you give in and try it, isn't it" he winked up at the still half stunned boy before waltzing over to his bag. "It's okay man, we don't have to talk about." He finished as he pulled the shirt over his head. Harry was dressed already, having pulled on black skinny jeans with a rip in the knee and the infamous white 'boyfriend shirt' they liked to share. Louis pulled on a pair of jeans rolled up at the ankle with a baseball tee and ran his fingers through his hair, around the same time Liam came out of the restroom and the lads took the stairs down to the lobby where the cab was already waiting.

"I snuck a flask." Liam said as he pulled it out and passed it around, the boys all refreshing their buzz before they got to the club.

"I think tonight is going to get very interesting." Lou said for the second time today as he winked up at Harry.

By the time they got to the club Maddy, Josh, Niall, and Jessica were there waiting. They all hugged and ordered a few rounds of drinks before getting up and going to dance, they had a private upper area of the club blocked off for them but a couple fans obviously took notice so they greeted them and snapped a few photos before returning to their area. Maddy knew some of the crowd that frequented the club so everyone was okay with kind of hiding the fact that it was the boys, that they were back in their town again, and it allowed them all to cut lose a bit more, except of course, for Liam and Zayn who had never fully lost the flush of red in their cheeks after Harry and Lou caught them kissing.

"What's up with those two?" Niall asked, more or less slurred, as he took another drink of his beer.

"Just a long day ya know, Zayn beat Liam every round of Mario Kart earlier and I think it hurt his pride a bit." Harry replied.

"Those two are something else aren't they?" Niall asked

"If you only knew." Harry shot him a grin.

Jessica pulled Niall off to dance with her and Maddy as Josh joined the lads again for another shot.

"She's wonderful Harry," Josh began, "I mean she's...she's so different than any other girl I've ever met, I know it's a lot and it's soon, but she's...she's something ya know?" He asked.

"Don't talk to me about soon, I knew I loved Louis the moment I saw him, I get it, trust me. You two work together, there's some kind of string that attaches you two, it's amazing to watch, I'm happy for you Josh." Harry replied, and with that they all made a toast and threw the liquor down their throats. Lou couldn't wait any longer and pulled Harry to the dance floor thrusting his hips into the taller boy's groin and grinding down hard, he threw his head over Harry's shoulder and that gave Harry the perfect angle to bite down and leave a red mark on his skin. The tension between them was building quickly so they didn't notice right away how Zayn was dancing with Liam, not until Liam had his hand pressed into Zayn's hip of course, and then that...that got Harry's attention. He nudged Lou up to look at the two of them and they shook their heads in unison. Niall must have caught on too because he made eye contact with Lou and looked astonished, they all shared a chuckle before getting back to their prospective partners and allowing them music to transport them somewhere else.

Before they knew it, 2 am rolled around and they were eager to get back to the hotel, all for different but somehow similar reasons. The cab ride back was quiet and the ride up to their floor was too, but as soon as the elevator opened up to let them out they erupted in conversation, everyone deciding to go back to Lou and Harry's room for a couple more shots before going back to their own rooms, and after about 45 minutes of good conversation and everyone getting a bit too drunk for their own good, they separated ways. 

"I can't believe how delicious you look." Harry told Lou as he tore his clothes off and threw him on the bed, but within seconds Louis had turned the tables and flipped them to where he was straddling Harry. It was quick and just rough enough for both of them to come within 15 minutes, Louis thrusting hard into Harry as he let Lou's name out of his mouth in the most delicious moans, causing Lou to get Harry's curls in between his fingers and pull his head back biting into the skin around his neck. They fell on the mattress together after riding out their orgasms and Louis turned to tell Harry how much he loved him when they heard a loud noise on the other side of their hotel wall.

"FUCK." a voice screamed before releasing a growl. "Shit, right there, don't fucking stop." The voice rang out louder and Harry covered his own mouth because that voice, that voice belonged to Zayn. "Liam, God, fuck I'm...I'm..." and another animalistic growl was let out followed by a hard hit to the mattress and one more growl. 

"We did not just hear our mates fucking each other senseless, did we?" Louis asked Harry.

"Come here baby, it's okay." Harry giggled as he replied to Lou, "They've heard it from us enough, haven't they?" 

"You're right baby, but I hope...I mean..."

"You sound like an angel when you come Louis." Harry assured him with a kiss before turning his back to Lou which was his invitation for Louis to be the big spoon as usual. 

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Louis asked Harry after a few moments of silence.

"Of course not baby," Harry replied, turning to face him. "I am confident that this is going to work for us baby, it's going to work for all of us. Daniel knows what he's doing, and we've got some proof and I, I've been sending out positivity into the universe Louis, that might sound crazy but I mean, I have, and I just know this is going to work out somehow. I get to tell the world soon that you're mine."

"I can't wait for them to know everything," Lou began, "Well...almost everything, but I want to keep some things to myself...like...the way you look in the morning with your curls matted to your face, or the way you growl my name into kisses when you're drunk, or the way your eyes are so green first thing in the morning, or the way you have filled every void I ever had in my soul, the way you sing my favorite songs in the shower, and the way...God the way you look when you let all of your inhibitions go...can I keep those...can those still be just for us?" Lou looked at Harry with needy eyes.

Harry didn't have to reply, he just pulled him in for a passionate kiss and moved the hair out of the older, but smaller, boy's face. It hit him in that moment that there was more than one reason Louis was scared of all of this, it wasn't just Modest...he was scared that this would be too real somehow, and if it became too real could he lose Harry? If it became real would they be more vulnerable some how? Harry wanted to erase all of his fears, he wanted to pull Lou in so closely that they were melting into each other, and he wanted to kiss him until he knew that he'd never lose him, but he settled for moving his fingers through Lou's hair as his breath softened and his heart beat evened out.

He'd never known love like the love he had with Louis, he thought, as he fell asleep being the big spoon this time.


	18. Irresistible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've been so busy lately and my mind has been in a thousand places all over...so thank you for putting up with my lack of writing motivation and my general laziness. Also, as usual, thank you Celia.
> 
> Zayn and Liam are explored more in this chapter.

The following morning Harry woke up and made a proper breakfast for his sleeping boyfriend, he loved the face Lou made when he ate anything cooked by him, almost like he'd never eaten before, like he savored every last piece. He thought to himself that this is what their lives would be like forever, Harry making Lou breakfast and waking him up with kitten kisses, and he loved it, yeah, they were young, but finding the kind of love they had wasn't in the stars for everyone, and Harry never allowed himself to forget that.

He was broken out of his thought process by a knock on their door and in walked a rather worn out looking Zayn..

"Hey, can I come in?" Zayn asked, which was already setting the tone for an awkward conversation, Zayn never asked, he knew he didn't have to. He usually walked into a room like he owned it, especially around the lads, forgetting to take his shoes off before he plopped down on a sofa, so he'd kick them towards the door and lay himself out...but not today...today Zayn was standing outside the door asking permission.

"Of course lad, come on...and don't ask, that's strange." Harry replied, turning his back to walk towards the kitchen, "I was just making lunch for Lou, do you want me to whip something up for you too?" He asked.

"I'm not really hungry Harry but thanks." Zayn replied, and then it struck Harry, why Zayn was acting so weird, he suddenly remembered the events of last night, and he was sure Zayn knew it too, but he kept his mouth shut, at least until Zayn was ready to talk, and it looked like he was.

"Harry, I...Zayn and I...Harry, were you and Lou...um. I let Liam fuck me last night and it's not the first time I'd ever thought about it, I don't know what he wants or thinks or what this was to him but it made things clear for me and I swear if you say anything to him I might cut those beautiful locks of yours right off your head, but...I, I have feelings for Liam Harry, I always have."

And that was suddenly more than Harry had expected to hear.

"I, I mean, you guys have a really awesome chemistry, I guess I don't think it'x crazy that you'd have feelings for him, but I guess I didn't expect to hear that, and I also didn't expect to hear you getting fucked into the mattress last night but I did, sorry, just trying to lighten the mood." Harry laughed, "I think you need to follow your heart here Zayn. I know you've seen Louis and I go through a lot, but things are going to be different for us soon, things are getting better."

"I just, I thought it was friendship at first, but I found myself wanting to be around him, wanting to know him more intimately, wanting to get inside of his head, his heart, I wanted to hold his hand, hug him tightly, I wanted to embrace him entirely, and I wanted to...I don't know, I wanted to talk to him the way you talk to Louis. I wanted to kiss his face, and then last night we finally did, and it was everything Harry, it was everything."

"Well Zayn I'd say you like Liam, at the very least, and I'd say you should probably."

"I knew this was going to happen," Lou cut Harry off as he walked in the room and threw a kiss on his lips. "Hey Zayn, sorry to tiptoe into the conversation but I'm actually not quite sorry and I've just been counting down the days until I could finally say this out loud, so. You should probably tell Liam, like now, because it's obvious that the tension has been there on his side too, and I don't know why we're all acting like this is some breaking news story. I heard you get your world rocked last night so stop picking at my breakfast and go kiss Liam good morning."

The 3 looked at each other for a few moments in a bit of a stunned silence, Louis could shut a room up quicker than anyone and he'd just proven that again, but before he could open his mouth to keep trying to convince Zayn to go, he stood up from the table, kissed Lou's forehead and ran out the door.

"How do you manage to control every person you meet?" Harry asked Louis almost suggestively.

"If you want to go back to bed after we eat I'd be happy to show you." He winked.

A few hours later a very naked Louis was woken up by the alarm on Harry's phone, reminding him that they had a meeting with Daniel this afternoon. Louis groaned into the pillow, not wanting to get up, not wanting to move from the warmth surrounding his body next to Harry's, he didn't want to disturb the atmosphere they were existing in...they didn't have much time that belonged to just them, not enough hours to watch Harry curled up next to him. Louis looked down at Harry and kissed his forehead before their bedroom door swung open and a very flustered Liam plopped down on the bed, disturbing the peaceful sleep Harry had been in.

"What in God's name do you need mate?" Louis asked.

"I, I know Zayn was here so you all already know everything, so no need to make me feel even more awkward and weird but, fuck, what the fuck does this mean?"

"Liam, Jesus, you're just as bad as Zayn...there's always been a connection between the two of you, but no one ever pressed it because it doesn't make sense that Niall is the only straight guy in the band, but maybe you don't have to label it, maybe it's nothing except the morning after nerves making you both act insane, but if it truly is love, then explore it, if it's fun, explore that too, but don't both of you barge into our room and act like you have to figure it all out right this second. Zayn has eyes for you mate, and I know you have them right back for him, so go take him in your hands, shower and meet us in the lobby in 30. I want to ravish my boyfriend in the shower and you're sitting on my leg."

Liam too kissed Lou's head and ran out of the room as if it were on fire, those two were meant for each other, Lou thought as he shook his head. He was a bit smaller than Harry but he got out of bed, picked him up anyway, and carried him into the shower. Within moments Lou was on his knees in front of the younger boy, with his hands clasped together behind his back and his mouth around Harry's cock, bobbing his head slowly allowing Harry to thrust his hips into Lou's open mouth, forcing himself further down Lou's throat with every thrust. Louis swallowed around the younger boy, sending chills through his body and without a moment's notice Harry was exploding down his throat, hands pulling Lou's hair causing the older boy to moan around him as he swallowed around him again before pulling back and wiping his lips suggestively as he looked up at Harry through his long eye lashes.

"Louis, fuck." Harry managed to let out before throwing Lou up against the opposite shower wall and pressing his hips hard against Lou's. Harry knew that he was already close so it wouldn't take much to make him come, after a few sharp jerks of his hand around Lou's cock, he was spilling into him with Harry's name falling out of his mouth. These moments were some of Harry's favorites, he loved the way they'd go to bed together, spend hours between sleep and being inside of each other, the way Louis was rough with him when he needed it but gentle too...but these moments, the ones where neither of them would last more than a minute or two tops, showed Harry how hot they still were for each other, how easy it was for them to turn the other on.

They toweled off and got dressed to meet the other boys in the lobby, Josh, Eleanor, and Max joined the group too, they were going to make a day out of it. Within 20 minutes they met with Maddy, Daniel, and Jessica. Josh picked Maddy up, spun her around and kissed her fiercely before sitting her down and looking shyly at her father. 

"I'm sorry sir." Josh said, but Daniel shook his head and laughed.

"I've heard her talk about how much she likes kissing you Josh, just don't make a habit of doing it in front of me and we'll be fine." Daniel nodded at them, without words telling them that it was okay to split apart from the group. Jessica and Niall joined hands and walked into the pizza parlor with the rest of the group before they all sat at some tables already put together in the back of the restaurant. 

"So guys," Daniel began, "I've put together everything Louis and Harry gave me, and I think I've created a system that will get all of you out of this. Eleanor, that includes you but you all have to be willing to accept the small bit of backlash this may bring, that's more for you Eleanor and Louis...you'll be seen as hurting Harry and some people will find it harder to forgive you for that, but I've talked to the girls and I've done research of my own and a large part of your fan base already thinks you and Harry are together anyway, and they support it, so in time I think most of the fans will come around to the idea. For the rest of you, I don't see this being something that causes a drop in sales or your appeal to female fans, that includes Louis and Harry still. You are more than your image, and I think when you're able to get out of the shadow Modest has cast you in, you'll find that confidence again to run this band the way you see fit, the way that's going to get you recognized for more than your boy band image. You want to appeal to markets of people other than 16 year old girls, you've got the talent to make it happen. I have found a couple companies that are more than willing to help you, but this is all one step at a time, so step one, is breaking the news to Modest. I will file this formally and present it to them, and it will be in their hands if this is taken to court or settled outside. I've already talked to Louis and Harry about it a bit, but I'm inclined to think that Modest will want to settle this outside of court, less media coverage, less room for error on their part, but it's never known how these things will go, so as soon as it's filed, we'll proceed. They can not harm you, not your person, not your music, not your talent, so no matter what happens from here on out, if you decide to move forward, realize that what they say holds no weight."

Niall was the first to speak, "You really don't think this is going to change our image?" He asked, and Louis felt it in his gut, Harry noticed because he placed his hand on Lou's leg and looked at him with an apology in his eyes. The lads couldn't be mad at Niall, they knew the boys were too scared to ask but had been worried, how could they be sure that Harry and Louis coming out wouldn't ruin their image?

"Not at all," Daniel began, "I think it will make you more approachable to a larger fan base as a matter of fact. You'll have two members of the band accepting who they are and who they love, it'll open doors to more kids who need idols to look up to."

"I'm sorry lads," Niall said, "I just...I just had to ask."

"It's okay," Harry replied, "I, I mean....we figured you all would want to know."

"I'm going to step outside." Zayn told the group as he got up from the table and Louis looked at Liam with a question in his eyes. Liam only hung his head and shook it enough for just Lou to notice. "Scoot out mate," he told Liam, "I'm going to join Zayn for a smoke." 

"You alright man?" Lou asked Zayn once he found him on the side of the building.

"I'm okay, I just...how have you done this for so long? How have you kept your feelings hidden for this long from the world...how is it that we're here right now discussing how to not be afraid because we want the most basic desire of anyone for you and Harry, to let you all be happy, why is it taking all of this? Why can't you just love who you love?"

"Zayn slow down....I think this is bigger than just Harry and I right now, what happened with you and Liam?"

"He told me he cares about me and he's not sure what it means but he wants to figure it out and I'm not opposed to it man, I...I think I've always known he could be something more to me and I didn't even fucking want to think about that because I saw the two of you, and I saw the pain and the struggle and I'm not gay, I just...I don't know whats happening I feel like I'm drowning...."

"I do too," a voice cut him off and a body pressed him against the wall, Liam had made his way outside without either of the other boys noticing and he was currently kissing Zayn like there was no tomorrow. Louis' stature was too small to hide anything, so he politely stopped the boys in their tracks reminding them that they were outside. With that the tension in the air dissipated and they walked inside, Zayn smiling with his head down the entire way back to the table.

"I'm sorry," Daniel began before they even got to sit down, "I didn't meant to drop all of this so heavily on all of you. I just, I want you to know what we can do and the soon we get going, the better it'll be for all of you. I think I'll let you all have some time to relax, I'm taking Maddy's mom out for the night so you're all welcome back at our home, maybe you can just relax a bit and talk it over."

"Thank you, sir. That sounds like it would be perfect." Harry told him, and they all left the restaurant texting Josh to bring Maddy home so they'd all be together to talk. About an hour and a few drinks later, the lads were all much happier about their conversation with Daniel, their doubts subsided and they decided they'd go ahead with everything, they wanted more musical freedom, more personal freedom, more general freedom...they deserved it. Louis was sitting in Harry's lap, Maddy in Josh's, Jessica in Nialls, and Zayn had his head in Liam's lap while Love Actually played on the TV in front of them. Harry was running his fingers up and down Lou's sides causing the younger boy to have goose bumps all across his skin, his cheeks reddening and his skin flushing, he felt butterflies in his stomach, unlike any he had felt in a long time, maybe it was the fact that they'd finally made the decision to go through with this, maybe it was because Harry's skin was so soft against his, or the fact that he was always kind of hot for the younger lad, probably a mix of all three, but he was so painfully turned on that he got up and pulled Harry to one of the guest bedrooms Maddy offered up to the group. Before long Liam and Zayn went to find their own guest room and the rest of the group fell asleep in pairs in the living room, being lulled to sleep by the romantic film left on the television.

"I can't believe we're doing this again," Zayn said breathlessly as Liam pulled his shirt up over his shoulders. 

"I've wanted to do this for so long, I don't want to keep pretending that I don't." Liam offered as a rebuttal, kissing into Zayn's perfect skin, running his tongue down his neck. Zayn was mewling underneath him, his skin covered in goosebumps and cold chills, his hands scratching shapes into Liam's back as Liam worked his way down Zayn's body. He kissed the skin against his abdomen, around his hips, and down to his pelvis before taking his hand and wrapping it around Zayn's cock, pulling it until it was hard before taking him into his mouth. He licked at the head of him, tasting his pre come and wanting more, being unable to resist he took Zayn's cock entirely into his mouth, swallowing around him and bobbing his head up and down before Zayn came down his throat. He wasn't done with him yet though, as he took his fingers up to Zayn's mouth, Zayn coating them in his saliva, knowing it would soon be used as the lubrication for Liam to open him up with. His cock was already getting hard again at the thought alone, and within seconds Liam had his fingers out of Zayn's mouth and pushing against his opening...he took his time, pushing his index finger in first, up to the knuckle, before moving it in and out until he felt comfortable adding his middle finger, he scissored Zayn open growing more turned on with each moan the boy let slip out between his lips. Liam added the third finger and Zayn was melting into the mattress, begging Liam to hurry, stop putting it off. "Liam just...fuck me." Zayn screamed and that's all it took for Liam to spit into his hand and push himself into Zayn, bottoming out immediately, wondering if he should have taken his time but seeing the blessed out look on Zayn's face he knew he'd made the right choice.

"Fucking move," Zayn panted, and Liam obliged, thrusting in and out of Zayn forcefully while he pulled his hair into his hands.

"You feel fucking amazing," Liam told Zayn, "You're so tight, you look so good taking my cock." and with that he brought down a slap of his hand onto Zayn, causing him to come all over the sheets and when his hole clenched around Liam, he came too, exploding inside of Zayn, he fucked them through their orgasms before both of them fell into the mattress and decided to wake up in a few hours to clean up and shower, neither of them wanting to disturb what had just happened, neither one of them ready to let the moment fade away.

Morning came before anyone realized it, and Maddy's parents cooked them all a great breakfast, Zayn and Liam hadn't joined the rest of the group yet but they knew they were okay with the process so Daniel began to explain to the boys how things would work from here, that it'd take a couple weeks to finalize everything on their side, then Modest would be notified, from there Modest would decide how they want to proceed and they'd make appropriate steps from there. They all sat in agreement around the table with light hearts and open minds and love, new love, old love, romantic love, platonic love, and a lot of hope to go around...

"This is the start of something new baby, something new for all of us." Louis whispered to Harry, kissing him slowly.

"And to celebrate, The Mrs. and I have booked you all a condo at the beach for tonight and tomorrow night. We know the boys have to leave early Friday morning, so just go enjoy it while you can, spend some time relaxing, and don't forget to wake up the two sleeping ones in the guest room. We'd hate for them to wake up and all of you be gone."

In excitement they all said thank you, shared hugs before running to their prospective places to pack and get ready. Louis walked into the kitchen by himself to tell Daniel thanks one more time.

"Sir, I couldn't ever tell you how much you mean to me, how much all of this means to me, not just me, to everyone, but especially to me. I, I've loved Harry since before I knew how heavy that word was, how much weight it carried, and I've loved him through all the good times, all the bad times, the heavy times, the light times, and it's been a long time since someone just came to us offering to help let out love be what it is, real. So thank you, for more than you know..." Louis told Daniel with a smile.

"You deserve it young man, now go pack up and hit the road, you're burning daylight."

With a smile Louis ran back up the stairs, helped Harry finish packing, and came downstairs just in time to be handed keys to the rental suv Daniel had rented for the group.

"Take care," Daniel told them, "And enjoy this."


	19. Same Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to go ahead and say now that this is NOT what I was expecting to write when I sat down to do this chapter, but I've been feeling a ton of emotions since the vine was leaked last night of Louis and I believe that he did say he was gay, and I believe security did tell him to be quiet and I got bitter, I just want Larry to be happy and together, so this is angsty as hell, it really is, and they cheat and it's messy but it's necessary for the new twist this is going to take.
> 
> Don't hate me!

The music was loud, the drinks were strong, and the lads couldn't remember the last time they'd had this much fun, especially all of them together. There were tons of rules with management, tons of situations to avoid to make sure Harry and Louis looked like mortal enemies, no group dinners, no more fan photos of the guys at clubs, no more boat trips during days off in tropical settings, no strolling around the city...just a lot of avoidance...but not here, not now.

They'd found a bar with a vip lounge and they were enjoying being out but still keeping a bit of privacy to themselves, stealing kisses under the spinning lights, feeling each others heart beats against warm skin glistening with sweat. Louis was pressed hard against Harry, his hands in the younger boys hair, his lips against his neck. Liam was sitting on a sofa with hiss hand on Zayn's knee, Eleanor was in a corner with Max stealing sips from his drink, Maddy and Josh were kissing on the back bar between puffs of his cigarette while Niall and Jessica were dancing on the floor, spinning in circles around each other. Louis was getting more drunk by the moment, throwing shots back, sharing mixed drinks with Harry, looking at him through hooded eyes, licking his lips, running his fingers across the skin on Harry's hips...the music was inviting, the beat made his heart skip beats, the way Harry whispered awful things into his ear made his dick twitch in his pants, and Liam must have been feeling a similar way because he asked if Louis would mind leaving early with him so they could talk about Zayn, he regretted it immediately, but he said yes and kissed Harry goodbye. The rest of the group decided to stay for about another hour or so, wanting to ride out the feeling a little longer, so Liam and Louis hailed a cab and went back to their hotel. The boys had rented out the entire floor for privacy but decided it was late enough at night to avoid using the secret entrance, kind of liking their buzz, they decided if there were straggling fans they'd tell them hi, maybe start a dance through the lobby leading to their elevator. So once they walked back inside they were a bit surprised that there were in fact some fans waiting around for them, but it was pleasant, so they went over to the fans with their security and danced around a bit, stopped for a few photos, but Louis was mouthy and Liam was trying to get him away from the fans and up to the elevator, but before he could do that successfully he and Louis heard a fan say Larry Stylinson and Louis jumped at the word, he turned around with a huge smile on his face and the fan asked if he was really dating Eleanor...Liam tried to stop him but he couldn't get to Louis before he was suddenly letting it spill out.

"I'm gay, it's pretty unfortunate isn't it Eleanor." he said with a very honest/drunken tone.

"Be quiet. BE QUIET" a member of their security detail said, "I can't believe you just said that." Their moment was over, they were rushed into the elevator, Louis was smiling his thousand watt smile, but Liam had suddenly turned to stone, his buzz wearing off, the reality of the moment hitting him none too soon. Modest wasn't going to be happy, Louis and Harry were still very much in contract, and Liam knew this meant trouble, big...a lot...of trouble. In the moment trouble seemed very very far away though...that is, if you'd been asking Louis.

Louis was naked and waiting when Harry got back to their room. He let Harry swallow him whole before fucking him hard into the mattress for an hour that night, leaving a heart of love bites on his left shoulder, leaving scratches all along his sides, pulling his hair back so hard Harry was left breathless...he fucked him until they both cried, until neither of their bodies could stand another ounce of pleasure, and then they fell asleep together in a mix of ecstasy and love...Harry not knowing what shit storm was bound to head their way in the morning. He realized something was wrong though when he woke up at 11:30, and he was alone.

Louis' phone was on the night stand, but his shoes and coat were gone, it wasn't quite cold enough for a jacket, so why wouldn't he have left it in their room? He probably wasn't just going to get breakfast, he could have gone to the lobby in house shoes...and why did he leave his phone? Harry called Liam who just told him to meet him in the lobby and he had a cup of coffee waiting.

"Where's Louis?" Harry asked before sitting down.

"Harry, just come have a seat and we'll talk."

"Liam, where is he?"

"They flew he and Eleanor to Vegas today mate, he fought it but they wouldn't let him get a word in, there are videos of him saying he's gay last night, bringing her name into it, reacting like a kid in a candy store to a person who mentioned Larry Stylinson...it's bad Harry."

He took the cup of coffee and threw it on the ground, stood up and decided then and there that he'd had enough, maybe meeting with Daniel had been a mistake, he suddenly felt like his heart wasn't strong enough to handle all of the fucking pressure.

He took his phone out of his pocket as he walked out the front of the hotel, Liam following close behind him, and typed a quick text to Daniel before dialing a number on his phone, within seconds he had a flight to LA booked and he threw his phone at Liam before storming up to his room to pack...he was set to leave in 45 minutes, he didn't want to be in that fucking hotel a second longer than he had to.

'Thank you for trying, but you should put a hold on taking our agreement any further, I'll contact you if anything changes, the rest of the group will be staying for the duration of the weekend, I'm taking a flight out in a couple of hours. Take care, and thank you again for all of your help, you've been brilliant." 

Not half a day later Harry was drinking wine with Nadine and the Azoff's and he knew there would be a series of decisions that'd be made tonight that would change the course of this forever, it was just a matter of how he reacted the second they began to happen.

Louis was in Vegas with Eleanor, miserable but putting on a great face, he was proud in the moment of his outburst the night before, but he felt bad today, bad for himself, for Harry, for Eleanor and Max...had he taken it too far? All Louis wanted to do was tell the truth, he wanted to be able to love the boy he'd been smitten by for years in the open, why was this something so hard to reach, it was right in front of him, he swore he could have reached out and touched it, but he wasn't given the ability, any time it got close enough it was yanked away, and last night he couldn't take it anymore...last night he didn't just reach for it, he threw himself into it, and now he was here, dressing up in tight black jeans and a button up shirt, with Eleanor in a tight black dress hugging her skinny frame and the lipstick on her pouty lips would soon be on his neck and collar and he just didn't want to think about any of that too much. He smoked in the bathroom of their hotel, enough to get a good disconnect, before fixing his fringe and walking to the living room to drape his arm around Eleanor before making their very public entrance into the hotel lobby, followed by their 'get away' car, and ending up in a restaurant with large windows so the paps would have no problems photographing their every move. What a fucking joke, he thought to himself, as he painted on his sly grin and let the door shut behind them.

It was two hours into dinner, Eleanor was angry too, missing out on time with Max and under stimulated, Louis knew she deserved more than this, and the way she looked at him with an empty look was dragging on his heart strings a bit more than it should have been, her vulnerability was opening him up, it was making him vulnerable too, so he spoke, and he wasn't sure what was coming out, but it was too late to stop it.

"We could play into this ya know," Louis began, "I mean I know we had the talk about Harry, but we could just give them what they want, I could climb across this table and slip my hand under your dress and flush your skin, press my lips against your neck, we could throw ourselves against each other at the club down the road, swallowing enough drinks to make us both sick, stopping just before we take it too far, then get lost in each other on the car ride back to the hotel and I could make you scream my name until you saw God." he said, without missing a beat.

The look on her face was one of intrigue, even though they both knew somewhere deep in their hearts that this was a mistake, neither one of them had the fight left in their spirit to say no, not after that speech, not when they were so alone, not when they were both empty. So Lou did just that, he sat on the bench seat next to El and traced his fingers into her skin, half imaging Harry until he he pressed his lips into her neck and smelled someone who wasn't his soulmate, he didn't smell the familiarity that came with Harry's neck, this was different, sour almost, and he thought to himself that it was fitting, it made sense that tonight he'd smell and taste sour, because the sweet...the sweet was gone. Eleanor smiled as she let her head fall back and he knew in that moment she'd taken something too, something to help give her a disconnect as well, their bodies were reacting before their minds had a chance to say no, and the car ride to the bar was full of quick kisses, the bar was full of loud music and close dancing, too many drinks...and a dark corner where he slid three fingers inside of her and cringed at the way it didn't feel like Harry. They called a cab back to their hotel and Eleanor took her dress off the second the door closed behind them, her hips stuck out, they didn't have the extra skin and fluff Harry's had, they were painful, but that made sense too, this wasn't love, this was a fuck, a hard..i dont want to feel anything anymore..fuck. He pulled her hair around his wrist and into his hand and thrust hard into her while she let his name slip out of her mouth, it was high pitched, not low and deep the way his name sounded falling from Harry's lips, but it did the trick, he dug his nails into her hips and she fisted into the sheets and he pulled out just in time to leave come streaks all along her back as she collapsed onto the mattress. He got a towel and cleaned her up before laying on the bed next to her...they laid for a second unaware of what their next step should be, should they cuddle or lie as far apart as they could and pretend like it didn't happen. Eleanor answered the unasked question by laying her head on Lou's chest and speaking slowly.

"They don't have to know, no one has to know." Eleanor said, and they drifted away.

 

It was 4 in the morning and Harry was with Nadine, her blonde hair falling around her neck and collar bone as she rode him in Harry's LA home, he hadn't brought anyone but Louis here before, but he sensed in the deepest parts of himself that Louis was spending intimate time with Eleanor and it was either this or putting in Love Actually and crying all night...maybe this was the way the cards fell, maybe Louis and Harry didn't get the happy ending after all. Nadine was scratching her nails into Harry's chest and it was rough, she didn't kiss the red marks the way Louis did when he was done leaving them, she didn't tongue at the sensitive skin, giving it relief with her breath the way Louis did, she didn't take her time the way he did...she was precise and quick in her movements, more worried about the way she looked on top of him than actually satisfying him, but it was okay he thought, in a few moments she'd orgasm and he'd pull out and probably come on his own stomach before going to wash off and falling asleep in a separate room, he just had to get through the next few thrusts he thought to himself. She threw her head back in an overdramatic motion and he knew she was close, so he raised himself up on one elbow and pulled her in for a deep kiss that sent her through her orgasm, and he did as expected, helped pull her off of him before rubbing himself a couple times and coming high enough to reach his butterfly tattoo. He walked to the washroom to clean himself up, before coming back to make sure Nadine had fallen asleep, he pulled the blanket up over her body before walking down the hall to the room he and Lou frequently slept in...smelling his older boyfriend all over the sheets and he cried, he didn't know what this meant, he didn't know what anything meant anymore.

It was 1:30 in the afternoon when security came to escort Louis and Eleanor to the airport, they would meet with the group, tell Maddy and Jessica bye before heading to their next stop. He didn't know what he'd tell Harry, but their body language was always louder than their words anyway and right now Lou's body screamed that it was touched by the wrong hands the night before, and Louis half hated himself for it, the other half of him was still too numb to everything to give a fuck...he was so sick of fighting, so sick of pretending.

Harry was picked up by security at 2, heading to meet with the group as well, Louis would expect him to be there when he arrived, Harry wondered what he'd say when he noticed him missing, wondered if he'd ask, there's no way he'd suspect Nadine, because no one knew about her except for the Azoff's and that's because before the last 24 hours happened, there was nothing to know about her, she'd just been a friend, but now, now she was a mistress and Harry knew what the most intimate parts of her tasted like, he couldn't get the sensation out of his mouth no matter how many times he'd tried. He wore his sunglasses into the airport, through the duration of the flight, and in the car on their way to the hotel where everyone else was waiting for them, busses already waiting out back, where life was going to move forward regardless of his decisions the night before.

What neither boy was expecting was Daniel waiting at the hotel with the group, and a very determined Maddy, Josh, Niall, Jessica, Liam, and Zayn...they'd come too far to let Harry and Louis fuck it up now.


	20. Heart Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay this one is sad too, but also necessary...

Louis got to the hotel first, wanting to grab at least an hour of sleep before the busses left, he managed to sneak into the staircase and ran up them, needing to feel his heart dancing from exertion and not stress, needing to control his breathing instead of letting it control him, he just wanted to be in total control of his body, running had always given him the control he needed. He made it up the flights of stairs to their floor rather quickly, getting his card key out of his wallet but the door wasn't all the way closed, at first he looked around to make sure nothing seemed out of sorts, before pushing the door open and seeing Liam and Zayn sitting on the sofa in the room he and Harry had been sharing.

"Hey lads," Lou began, "I'm back from my romantic getaway with Eleanor, aren't you going to ask me how much fun we had?" He asked with a tone dripping in sarcasm.

"Louis sit down," Zayn murmured, "I'm not playing, none of us are. I'm so sick of this fucking game with you two"

"Wait, what? I..what the fuck are you on about Zayn? Modest made me leave with Eleanor, I didn't have a fucking say in the matter."

"Well that doesn't quite explain Harry's text to Daniel now does it? This situation is bigger than the two of you, it always has been, maybe they never told us we couldn't be together, but that's because we hadn't tried, at least not Liam and I until now, but fuck Louis. We had to watch you and Harry cry, both of you look miserable, stay up nights with either of you trying to drown out the pain you were being caused, that you were causing each other. I singlehandedly think you're the reason Niall has been single until now, he's been too scared to try to be with anyone because all we've known is the pain you two felt, but that was okay because the love, the love between you two was inspiring and I used to think it was some type of magic and now I think you both just treat it like something that's not valuable and I won't sit around and watch you do this any more."

All Louis could ask, all he could think..was, "What was Harry's text to Daniel?"

"Oh come on, don't play dumb...he sent Daniel a text saying he was wasting his time."

And with that, Louis swore he felt the wind get knocked out of his chest...he looked around, and he heard voices coming from another part of their suite, but he didn't see Harry, it took him a second but it finally hit him that he was missing. "Where is he?" Louis asked, "Where the fuck is Harry?"

It hit Liam then too, that Harry didn't run any of this by Louis, he probably should have known because of the way he reacted the morning they didn't quite share breakfast together because Harry was too busy throwing his coffee cup on the ground, making frantic calls and shoving his phone into Liam's embrace. He just assumed the minute Harry got to wherever he was going that he'd call Louis, part of him thought he may have been running off to save Louis, but the look on Lou's face in this moment, having not heard from Harry in over a day, having not felt close to Harry in more than 24 hours was heart break personified...Liam didn't want to have to be the one to tell him, but he didn't have any other choice.

"Harry left mate, I invited him down for coffee after Modest came to get you," Liam began, "I told him you'd been forced to leave with Eleanor and he threw his coffee cup down, he made a few calls and texts but I assumed they were to you, or to someone about you, so when he left I don't know, I guess I thought you were his destination." Liam told him without looking up, not wanting to see his reaction.

"I haven't seen him since I kissed the curls on his forehead before Modest made me leave, he didn't tell you were he was going? And wait, what text to Daniel? Zayn what were you on about?"

"Daniel is here Louis...everyone is here, Harry...well...he told him that he was wasting his time, that he shouldn't try to take things any further, he thanked him for his time and said it was over."

"He...he...wha..." but before Louis could try to make sense of his mind, and get that communicated with his mouth, Harry barged in, obviously having caught the tail end of their conversation. He wasn't smiling, he didn't look soft, he looked hard and guarded and his voice was low and precise.

"He's right, I told Daniel to give up on this, it's clearly a waste of time Louis, not everyone gets a happy ending, we're obviously not meant to. You were swept away to some city with Eleanor and I was spending time in LA with the Azoff's and Nadine, we may as well stop dragging this on, just because we felt a certain way at some point doesn't mean we have to keep chasing a feeling we've both clearly lost." Harry said sharply.

"FEELINGS WE'VE LOST?" Louis yelled, "FEELINGS WE'VE LOST? I FUCKING TOLD PEOPLE I WAS GAY TWO NIGHTS AGO OR HAS THAT SLIPPED YOUR MIND HAROLD?...This has got to be some kind of sick joke, what the fuck are you on about...feelings we've lost...I could kiss you right now and your legs would give out, your heart is racing, I can see it through your sheer shirt, there's nothing about you that has stopped loving me, who the hell do you think you are?"

"You said it under your breath while drinking Louis, and then you fucking jumped when Modest asked you to NOT EVEN 12 HOURS LATER, and got on a plane with your so called fake girlfriend but let's be serious she's lost some weight and looks like exactly the type of girl everyone pictures you with, and when I was in LA I realized that maybe our feelings are in the past and our motions are playing out as if they were still rooted in love but they're not, I don't love you anymore Louis Tomlinson. I'm quite finished pretending that I do."

The look on Louis' face was one Harry had never seen, in the arguments they've had, no matter how bad they got, he'd never seen this one. Liam gasped behind him and Zayn shook his head, they all stood there in the deafening silence, the weight of everything Harry said crushing them and the only thing that was let out was the sound of Louis crying as he walked out of the room.

"You've got about 2 seconds to chase him down and make this right Styles." Liam mouthed sternly.

"Time's up." Harry replied before going into his room.

Zayn and Liam looked at each other for a moment, Zayn looking almost as broken as Louis did, he didn't like to admit it but Zayn was a hopeless romantic and he really believed in the love that Harry and Louis shared...seeing this happen, seeing them fall apart, it was devastating to him too. 

"Stay here, get a glass of water, I'll go get Daniel." Liam kissed Zayn's forehead before walking down the hall to the room the rest of the group sat waiting in.

"They got back before we could signal you all, and it's bad, Harry told Louis he didn't love him anymore, Louis left and Zayn looks like someone broke his favorite Christmas toy, I don't know what's going on but we're losing, we're all fucking losing." Liam said, and for the first time the stress in his body was allowing itself to show.

"I'll go find Louis." Niall offered, pulling Jessica along. Josh, Maddy, Daniel and Liam returned to the room where Zayn was waiting...Harry still hadn't come out of his bedroom.

Niall found Louis on the tour bus, sometimes when the lads would fall asleep he and Lou would sit in the area with the sofa and talk, sometimes they'd sit in silence, just existing in it all, he knew Lou wouldn't have many options on where to go hide, so he'd hoped he'd find him here, so relieved when he did. Niall wanted to tell Louis that he knows Harry didn't mean it, wanted to tell him that he was just speaking out of anger and frustration, fear too...but he didn't want to cause the boy to cry anymore, it looked like he'd finally stopped, so he just sat next to him and pulled him in for a cuddle.

"I love you mate." Niall proclaimed and let Louis sigh into his chest and drift off to sleep.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Josh stormed into the room and asked Harry, "You think you can just run your mouth at Louis like he doesn't matter? We all know how much he matters to you. You think you can be so ungrateful to Daniel and Maddy, to all of us? I don't know what happened in LA but you need to shake it, you're not this person Harry Styles, I won't let you be." 

"I'm just playing it up, I'm a womanizer right, I don't love Louis, I hate him, we all get along but not well enough to really be lads, and I spend most of my time brooding and wearing women's clothing. I'm just playing my fucking role here." Harry replied, and the entire room fell silent, this was coming from a deeper place than they'd realized.

"Harry, can I...can I say something?" Daniel asked.

"Go ahead." Harry replied shortly.

"I know you feel hopeless right now, but this isn't your forever, this isn't the way this lasts, you get your happy ending, and it's with him. I've seen a lot of love in my practice, the wrong love, failed love, platonic love, parental love, and occasionally love that made sense, but I've never seen a love like that between you and Louis. I don't know what pain you've caused each other, what pain you've carried yourself, but I do know that this isn't the kind of love that goes away, especially not silently, and you'll regret this decision every single day if you make it. It seems impossible and difficult and hard right now and that's enough to scare anyone away, but it's not, it's real and possible and it makes sense, you've just gotta fight at it right now. You and Louis have to come together and brace yourselves for the impact, because it's gonna hurt, but it's got to hurt, because if it didn't, it wouldn't be breaking through the walls."

"Louis was so proud the other night Harry," Liam added, "He was so proud that he'd finally said the words out loud, that he'd finally gotten past the mental block in his head that Modest had placed so many years ago. He was happy and proud and he thought you would be too Harry."

With that, Harry broke down, he broke down for this moment but for all the ones before it too, for every time he had to pretend to make nice with Eleanor and Louis, for the times he wanted to touch his love on stage but couldn't, for the interviews where their conversation was edited out, for the photos he'd never been able to share, for the love he'd been made to feel ashamed of. For the girls he had to make nice with, and for Nadine, for having her unfamiliar body pressed against his...he cried for every part of it and Liam just held him through it, he held him through the break down.

"I've got to find him, don't I?" He asked standing up quickly, "I've got to find my Louis." 

Harry searched for a while around the rooms on their floor before running out of the hotel and around back, hoping maybe he'd find him angrily kicking a soccer ball or smoking too many cigarettes, but to his dismay, Louis was no where to be found. He started to panic and wished he had a better control of his actions when he was angry, why hadn't he kept his stupid phone on him instead of leaving it with Liam? That's when he heard the tour bus door shut and turned his body around to see Niall walking out.

"Louis, he's in there? Is he okay, he's safe?" He asked frantically.

"He's in there, safe is the last thing he feels right now though Harry, and I'm sure you've been lectured so I won't tell you everything I wish I could say right now but I will tell you this...Louis is a fucking catch in every sense of the word, he may have a tougher exterior than you do but his heart is soft and sensitive and it fucking loves you mate, he loves you with everything he has and all that he is. Give him a break, he tried to do something sweet for you this weekend and he got sent away for it, and you acted like a spoiled prat and ran away and did God knows what with Nadine and who the hell is she even? It's not the point, I just...if you're going to speak to him you damn well better speak easy and don't for a second let him think he isn't worth your love, you broke him when you told him you didn't love him Harry. I've never seen him like this, and whatever words you have for him right now aren't even going to be a fraction of enough to make him feel safe with you again."

Niall had never spoken to Harry like that, never spoken to anyone like that at all, he was usually bubbly and warm and considerate but Harry figured maybe he didn't deserve those things right now, he didn't deserve to be treated with any sort of kindness, not when he treated the man he loved with such blatant disregard earlier. He walked to the tour bus slowly, trying to be soft with everything he did, and once he got on board and shut the door behind him he tiptoed to the open space at the beginning and saw Louis laying on the sofa, looking so incredibly small and fragile, he'd never seen him look that way before, never this vulnerable, but not in a good way, in a way that was wrecked and pained and Harry hated himself more by the second for being the cause of it. He pulled a blanket out from the basket close to the sofa and draped it over Lou's body before curling himself around the older boy, his body twitched at the contact but his eyes remained shut and Harry hoped he'd keep them that way, at least for a few moment so Harry could just hold him, maybe before he figured out who it was and shoved him off before crying again. Harry knew Louis would recognize his touch though, it'd been years of this, how could he not? The thought comforted him as Louis' body anchored in closer to Harry's, pleading to be kept there, together, and if his body recognized Harry's without a second thought, maybe his heart would allow Harry back in...that's all he could hope for. 

Harry's hopes were shattered when he woke up two hours later alone on the sofa, the area beside him cold which told him Louis had left almost immediately, he probably saw Harry and got sick to himself, for subconsciously snuggling up to the boy who just told him he didn't love him anymore. It took him a second to realize that the bus was in motion, of course he thought to himself...they were on the road again, he went to the bunks hoping to find Louis but he pulled back the curtain to see Niall instead, the second curtain housed Liam. He moved around to where the lads kept their things and Lou's had been replaced by items belonging to the other two...Louis hadn't left a single trace of him on the bus, no reminders to Harry that love had lived here days before, almost moments before, he opened his big mouth and ruined everything. He wanted to ask the lads where Lou went, but he knew the answer was back to bus 1, the bus he and Zayn loved..the one they got close on, got to know more about each other on, the one that Harry always felt a ping of jealousy about, that's where Louis was, where he'd stay, and Harry was the reason for it, so an argument coming from him would be invalid. He started to sense a headache, or maybe it was more of an ache throughout his entire body, he deserved it, so he took some tylenol and laid down on the sofa trying to cling to a scent or memory of the boy who was there a couple hours before, but it was gone...Louis had taken everything.

 

The buses stopped at their next arena, followed by a large black van, Josh had pulled some strings and got Maddy, Jessica and Daniel to get to come to the next couple stops, telling management that Maddy was his girlfriend, Jessica had paired with Niall and Daniel was there for the obvious parental guidance...Modest had no idea what their last names were nor did they pry into job descriptions so they'd gotten away with bringing the man who was set to destroy this whole arrangement on their tour. This would prove to be beneficial for the lads, and of course Daniel was still planning, having dealt with moody teenagers, he knew to disregard Harry's emotional text message, but he wouldn't show the help again until he was asked, being careful not to overstep boundaries. The lads got off the busses and the guests out of the van and Louis and Zayn grabbed a soccer ball and found a place to kick it around a bit, drinking red bull and laughing. Harry thought for a moment that it was genuine, at least until Louis removed his sunglasses and wiped tears away that had pooled inside them, his eyes were sunken in, almost bruised looking...all Harry wanted to do was embrace him but the stern look he received from Zayn let him know that was an unwelcome gesture, so he returned to the group and began a long line of apologies to each one, reminding them that he wasn't the lost cause he'd just shown himself to be, hopefully regaining their trust and affection, spending a bit of extra time telling Daniel what a blessing he was and saying he was sorry for being such a prat, hoping Daniel hadn't decided to give up on them on his own accord. Daniel just smiled and assured him that he was working even harder now, to make sure that nothing like this ever had to happen again, and telling Harry that for as much as he'd hurt Louis, he knew that Louis had hurt him too, and offering to be a mediator...be level ground...for the lads if and when they wanted to talk this over. Harry just placed his hands together and bowed his head in thanks to Daniel, words seemed insignificant at that moment. The rest of the afternoon flew by and before they knew it, 20 minutes were all that stood in between them and showtime. They did their last few vocal exercises and fixed their hair before lining up, Harry kept looking at Louis, trying to find excuses to make eye contact but Louis wouldn't grant him the privilege, to top it off he had to have his make up touched up 4 times...no one believing him when he claimed allergies as the reason for the tears that kept falling. Harry just shook his head and looked down, waiting to hear their mark, and once he did he exploded into energy on stage, falling in line with the rest of the boys. The show went off well enough, Louis missed a few marks but with his voice sounding hoarse from crying he claimed a minor illness, but he just love the fans too much to miss the show, and instead of anyone being upset with him the crowd loved it more, which worked in his favor, he thought, and was able to look a little down, miss a few steps, without being judged. He wasn't trying to be bad on purpose but with a Harry Styles shaped hole in his heart, being on that stage meant so much less than what it used to. He looked at Zayn though the lyrics to little things, the ones where Harry always stared at him, but he still felt his piercing eyes and cried at the weight of them, walking off stage in the middle of the show. Harry wanted to chase him but he knew it'd start a bigger issue with management so he just sat there, the lads talked a bit until Louis came back on stage with a half watt smile and finished the show. 9 songs later the boys were saying their goodbyes and walking off stage, fans were already tweeting about the lack of 'Larry Stylinson' moments and claiming it meant everyone was right about the vine, and that modest was forcing them apart even more now, which would have been true had they not done it themselves. Modest was probably laughing at this point, Louis thought to himself, and rightfully so, maybe this had been their plan all along, he thought, to push the lads to self destruction...as to keep their own hands clean.


	21. Save You Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angsty but the angst ends in this one! :) So by the end of the chapter they're happy again and the plan with Daniel is finalized and in motion! As usual thank you my beta, Celia.

Louis was drunk, that might have been an understatement, Louis was beside himself wasted, probably couldn’t stand up if he tried, but his mouth was still running, and he wasn’t too worried about what was coming out of it.

"Harry says he doesn’t love me, well I hope he’s quite finished getting his dick sucked." He yelled a bit too loudly in the quiet part of the bar, Zayn smacked his hand and shook his head, it was rare for Zayn to be the father figure of the group, but he knew Louis still loved Harry, knew he shouldn’t let himself put his foot too far in his mouth. Zayn wasn’t sure what to say to make it stop, but he figured getting another drink in the boys hand and throat couldn’t hurt, so he ordered another round and asked Lou what he thought about the footie game they’d be watching in the morning. Louis didn’t want to talk about footie thought and he didn’t let the drink stop his ranting.

"He said he doesn’t fucking love me, Harry…Harry Styles doesn’t fucking love me. What is he on? Does he know that he was speaking to me, what kind of shit was that? He didn’t mean it did he Zayn? He loves me right?" Louis went from angry to sad in a matter of seconds, went from holding off his tears to allowing them to fall, went from wanting to hate Harry forever to wanting to pick up his phone and ask him what happened, what went wrong, how he could say those things after things had been so good lately?

"Of course he loves you mate, things are just hard right now…but I do have to ask, and please just, just answer and don’t be upset with me…but, what did you and Eleanor do in Vegas? You came home and you’ve been off ever since, I think it’s because of more than what’s happening with Harry."

"Zayn, I…I don’t know, I mean, I do know…I fucked up mate, I really did. I don’t know what I was thinking, why I thought it was a good idea but…I slept with Eleanor."

"I knew it," Zayn began, "I knew you did, something was different about you from the moment you came back, it’s like you lost part of your color, your light, you knew you did something awful and it literally killed your soul mate. How, why…what were you thinking!? Why did you sleep with her, after everything you and Harry have been through? Why would you do that?" 

"I’m never gonna be enough for him Zayn, never enough for anyone. I’m too flamboyant for Modest, I’m too hidden for Harry, my voice isn’t strong enough for solos, my heart is too soft or too hard, I’m too loud or too quiet, I’m never just Louis, I’m always being pulled in a million different directions and I can’t take it anymore, I can’t keep up the charade anymore." He looked up, took a deep breath, and finished his drink in one gulp, he’d needed to say that for such a long time, and now he finally had…so why didn’t he just feel better? At that moment he realized that it's because the one curly haired, taller boy with pink lips was the only one who could help him when things got this dark, and he was also the only one he couldn't call right now. 

"I want another drink Zayn, and I want to dance." Louis stated as he got up and reached to Zayn for stability. Zayn knew it wasn't a good idea but he also knew there wasn't a thing in the world he could say or do to make Louis feel better right now except standing by and watching him self destruct for the night, so he did.

A few hours later they were at the hotel, Zayn having carried Louis upstairs and to the bathroom where he was now throwing up everything but his feelings. He was lying on the floor with tear stained cheeks and Zayn swore he heard Lou ask for Harry but he pretended not to hear it, he also pretended it didn't hurt his heart to hear the lad so vulnerable and needy whispering his name as he slipped in and out of sleep. Zayn woke up around 830 to a phone call from Liam, he felt a crick in his neck before realizing that he'd managed to get Louis out of his clothes, bathed, cleaned the bathroom floor and made a pallet of blankets for Lou to sleep on incase he got sick again...but allowed himself to fall asleep sitting up with no comfort at all, it was worth it though, he thought, if Louis needed looking over, he'd be the one to do it. 

"On a scale of one to ten how sick is Louis right now because Harry is at a 12." Liam spoke. 

"He's actually okay right now, we got it all out last night, I cleaned him up and laid him down on a pile of blankets in the bathroom and he hadn't been sick again, he's got a bit of color to his cheeks but it may have been from all the crying." 

"Harry cried all night too mate, he uh...listen he told me not to say anything but he..he and Nadine..they hooked up in LA." 

"Well if that isn't just perfect. I shouldn't say anything either but so did Louis and Eleanor in Vegas...he looked sick about it so I didn't get angry, I just asked why and he went off about things we've all heard but only Harry truly understands the weight of and he was awful Liam, he asked for Harry all night...what are we gonna do love?" 

"First I'm going to come there; Niall is here with Harry so open the door; I'll be there in 2 minutes." Liam hung up and Zayn kissed Lou's forehead before making his way to the living room. Liam opened the door and Zayn smiled at him, tried to say hello but Liam was too busy pulling him in and spinning them around, pinning Zayn to the wall before pressing their lips and bodies together, exploring the crevices of his mouth, taking one hand and running it up and down Zayn's side while the other hand kept his hands held above his head. They needed to feel this, after being around two broken boys they needed to feel a jolt of their own chemistry, needed to be reminded why this stuff is worth fighting for. Liam dropped Zayn's hands and cupped his now free hand to the boys strong jawline as he continued licking into his mouth, Zayn pulled Liam's shirt up and finally over his head and threw it on the ground before moving into him again, their chests warm against each other. The kissing heated up and before Liam could give it a second thought he was leaving love bites down Zayn's chest as he worked his way to the boys abdomen, pulling down his pants allowing his cock to spring out, already hard and leaking precome he wasted no time swallowing him down, causing Zayn's hips to buck up. He gasped and looked down at Liam making sure he didn't hurt him. 

"Baby it's fine, do it again." Liam asked him with his jaw now slack. It's not like Zayn hadn't thought of this, hadn't pictured looking down at Liam with his mouth wide open taking Zayn's forceful thrusts, he just didn't want to hurt him, but he was taking too long to think or make a move and the next thing he knew he felt Liam's hands cup his ass and thrust Zayn into his mouth himself, hitting the back of his throat, and that's all it really took before Zayn put his hands on the back of Liam's head and fucked his mouth until he came. He got down on his knees and kissed Liam, reaching down to help finish him off too when he realized Liam had already come too. 

"Don't say a word," Liam said with a shit grin, "you just look so bloody hot doing that I can't hold it together." Zayn smiled at Liam with adoration and a bit of confidence before pulling him up and bringing him to the kitchen, starting some water for tea. 

"So how are we going to fix it this time?" Zayn asked, pouring their glasses of tea.

"I think I need to stay and speak to Louis and you should go speak to Harry...maybe after we've talked to them both we can come back and have a better idea of what to do." Liam suggested...and with that they finished their tea, Zayn slipped on his shoes and walked down the hall to Harry's room, the curly haired boy was still sleeping so he found a comfortable spot on the sofa, pulled up a blanket, and fell asleep too. 

Liam walked into the bathroom after he cleaned the cups he and Zayn used and saw Louis still sleeping in the blankets, he stared at him for a second...Louis always had to be the strong one...he'd taken on this relationship with Eleanor to protect Harry, so Harry wouldn't have to go through it, he acted the loudest and said the wrong things so no matter what the rest of the lads did, he'd get the blunt end of the repercussions, he did it because he loved them, loved them more than anyone else, they were his brothers. Liam saw this written all over his sleeping face and caught sight of how truly vulnerable he was, he looked skinnier again, paler except for his pink cheeks, and sad, he was sleeping but he didn't look rested. Liam wanted to curl up beside him and hold him, so he did, the overwhelming scent of the lemon cleaner Zayn had used surrounding them, but in the moment it didn't matter, he was going to help Louis carry some of this weight, he was going to help Louis allow his heart a little bit of time to heal. He kissed his forehead as he drifted off to sleep next to him, wanting to be a bit more rested when Louis woke up himself...which happened two hours later, him reaching across the body next to him and startling awake when he realized it wasn't Harry. He had been dreaming of the curly haired boy and the pit of his stomach hurt when he saw that Liam was the one next to him this morning, he loved Liam with all of his heart, but he just wanted it to be Harry, he wanted this to be over, he missed him...he missed him a lot, and before he knew it the tears were falling and Liam was awake pulling him in and allowing him to experience the break down, not having to go at it alone.

"I fucked up Liam, he has every right not to love me anymore, I did this for him, for us, and all it's done is cause him pain, all it's done is hurt him. I wanted them to leave Harry alone so I said I'd do it, I'd have the girlfriend, but they try to turn him into a womanizer anyway... Why would he still want to be with me, watching me have to date her, hold her hand, kiss her...I did this for us and it's killing him. I don't deserve him Liam, I don't...but I can't do this...be here...without him." 

"Louis I think we've all asked too much of you, since this whole band came together you've been the bad boy of the group, taking on what we've done or said because you were willing enough to do it more intensely or say it louder, you've always been the one Modest picked on, the one they could shove our shit off on, its breaking you and it isn't fair, you're not at this breaking point because of things you've done, well..some of it is...but a lot of it is what we've all done as a band, that's why you've gotta let Daniel in, you've gotta let him help us get out of this situation lad, we've got too much promise to be stuck here." Liam told him, stroking his hair. 

"I'm not the one who tried to tell him to go, that was Harry...but I can't say if i were Daniel I'd want to help us right now anyway. I slept with Eleanor Liam, it happened in Vegas, I didn't think, I was drunk and smoked out and she was there looking proper drugged up herself and alone and in pain and I just wanted to make us both feel something, we were so fucking empty..." the thought of what he'd done made him sick so he pushed Liam away and threw up in the toilet...this was going to be harder to fix than he thought, Liam said to himself. He did the only thing he knew to do, and pulled out his phone to text Josh and ask him to bring Maddy to Louis and send Jessica to Harry, he send a text to Zayn telling him to let Jessica in when she got there, to update her and then to let her work her magic, maybe talking to the lads about all this each time was growing old, maybe they needed a clear set of eyes and a different voice. The rest of the group must have felt the same way because it took Maddy all of 3 minutes to be knocking at the door, so Liam got up and helped Louis get cleaned up, got him dressed and walked him out to the living room before opening the door and letting her inside. Louis looked at them both a bit confused before she sad down and began to speak

"Louis I know you don't really know me well enough to want to spill all of your dirty laundry on my lap, but it's been taken care of for you and I want you to know that the back story I got surprised me, but not as much after I really sat down and thought about it. I didn't know that you and Harry have hurt each other the way you have, and that makes my heart sad, but I do know that neither of you are too far gone to be helped, to get it right, but you have to really do it this time, because if you don't, if you can't make it right, I feel like you're on the right track to losing it and you don't want that, and I know he doesn't either. Louis I've had a good life, an easy life, but I've seen people have to fight for love and I've always believed nothing worth having truly comes easily, I've learned that with Josh already, we've had one argument that really made me question if we were right for each other...turns out we are, I really really care about him, and it took us hitting a low to realize that, it seems like you and Harry have hit lows but you've always been quick to come back up, so maybe you haven't allowed yourself to really experience the pain you needed to to make sure that you didn't do this again, it seems like this time you have though. I'll be the one to tell you because I know no one else wants to, I know you slept with Eleanor in Vegas, and Harry slept with Nadine in LA. It's not something I want to say so I'm going to keep talking so I don't stop and see the sad look on your face right now, that's what Liam is here for, but I just want you to know that, and Harry is finding out that you slept with Nadine too, so neither of you have to really worry about that weight, we lifted it for you, however you do have to worry about the part of your minds that told you it was okay to act that way. You know you're in a committed relationship with Harry and maybe it's not one that you can be public with right this minute, but it doesn't make it any less real and what you're doing is really hurting yourselves. You've got to say that Harry means more to you than a temporary feeling to take the pain away, you have to let his love be what takes your pain away, even when he's not with you, even when you're forced to be with Eleanor, he has to be the driving motivation for keeping this up just for a little while longer, so when your time comes to be free, you can both enjoy it. I don't know you well Louis but I love you, I'm going to hug you now and then we'll figure it out okay? You've got us, you've got me, you've still got Harry too, even if it doesn't feel like it right now."

Maddy moved in to embrace Louis and he fell apart in her arms, sobbing so loud and violently that his entire body was shaking, his arms were weak, his chest was moving at an alarming rate, and everything was finally releasing from him, he was carrying the weight of the band, but he never minded, he just never realized how much it was wearing on him, how much it was wearing on Harry. He cried for 15 minutes, letting it all out, having to physically be held together by Maddy and Liam who had tears in their eyes as well, watching the fragile boy falling apart and somehow falling back together. He really had grown skinner again, Liam noticed, and Maddy saw the look on his face as he realized it, so she looked at him with understanding eyes, making a silent promise to help get him healthy, to get him back to the Louis they loved and missed. The crying slowed down and eventually stopped and Liam was petting his hair and Maddy was rubbing his back and he thanked them both before standing up, taking a few broken steps to the door and opening it to walk down the hall to the room Harry was staying in, he had to see him.

Louis almost knocked on the door but he realized he could hear the voices inside talking, so he paused for a moment before hearing Harry crying too, they must have told him about Eleanor and Vegas because it was a broken cry, one Harry only let out when the pain was too much to handle on his own, the kind of cry that made you need to hold him together for him but for you too. He beat on the door until Zayn let him in, he wanted to hug him but instead pushed him aside and ran to where Harry was sitting, half expecting to be pushed away, but instead the curly haired boy looked up at him and pulled him in.

"I am so fucking sorry Louis, I am so so sorry, I didn't mean it, I love you, I love you so fucking much that it hurts, that I don't know who I am without you, and I don't want to. I don't want to live this life without you, I couldn't do it. I wouldn't be me without you Louis..." sobbing he just shrugged his shoulders and looked at Louis, waiting for him to say something, anything...

"Harry Styles, if you think us being completely moronic is going to be enough to keep us apart you're wrong and you obviously doubt my ability to be stubbornly attached to an idea once its in my head, and if I can be that attached to an idea then I am obviously even more attached to a feeling, to a person, and you are that to me, you are the feeling of love, of promise, of hope, of everything good in this world, you're the man that I love. I am so sorry, I know they told you about Vegas and I hate myself more than you could ever hate me for it, and they told me about LA and I understand why you did it, we're so similar Harry, I just...we can't keep doing this to each other. Maddy told me something prophetic and I don't know why we haven't realized this sooner, you have to let my love heal your pain, and I have to let yours heal mine. I'm going to be linked to her until we let Daniel help us get out of here, and you with Nadine now, and I just, we can't let the broken emptiness of what that is affect the whole beautiful love that we share between us. I can't lose you Harry, I won't lose you. I wouldn't be anything without those curls, your hazel eyes, the tattoos on your body that mirror mine, I wouldn't be me without being able to kiss you, hold your hand, write love songs about you, I wouldn't be able to smile without yours, I couldn't love unless it was with you. I need you Harry...I fucking need you so much. When I agreed to be the one who had a girlfriend, I was doing it to protect you Harry, I was doing it to save you from having to be the one to carry all this weight, I didn't do it to hurt us, I sure as hell didn't do it so I'd get more out of this than you did. I just, I love you so much, i wanted to protect you."

Harry looked up and realized that they were alone, the rest of the group had left them there, probably expecting more of a blow up than what had happened, they'd gone right past anger and to understanding, Harry figured they'd spent enough time angry...they'd spent enough time apart, and right now, they'd spent enough time talking. Harry looked at Louis and the look had changed from a sad pleading to a needy one, he needed Louis too, in every sense of the word, he grabbed his hand and led him back to the bedroom before shutting the door behind them. He peeled off Louis' shirt without saying a word, pulled his pants down and lifted him up, Louis wrapping his legs around Harry's waist, and walked him over to the bed, he laid Louis down and hovered over him, kissing him slowly before he began to speak.

"I want you to make love to me Louis, I need you to take your time and make love to me."

Louis flipped the younger boy over, now straddling over top of him, Harry hadn't been in a shirt from the moment Louis beat on the door, so he helped the boy out of his pants before staring deeply into his eyes and kissing every single inch of his face, whispering to him how much he loved him, how beautiful he was, how much he needed him forever. He stopped and looked at Harry for a few moments, taking him in, every part of him was open and vulnerable right now, his eyes were hungrily searching for Louis', his mouth was a soft pink, his cheeks almost shimmering with a burst of color and remnants of his tears.

He moved his hand down to Harry's cock and slowly rubbed him until he was hard before reaching over to the night table and finding lube in the drawer, he wet his fingers and pressed one into Harry slowly before beginning to speak again.

"Harry Styles, you are perfection personified, I am so in love with you...I want to take my time with you too, I want to feel every part of this with you, feel you fall apart underneath me, I want to feel your back arch, hear your soft moans, I want to swallow my name as it falls off your lips, I want to feel your skin covered in goose bumps from the chills you get when my lips touch your skin. I want to rock my hips into yours slowly as you move yours to meet mine." 

By the time he was done talking he had 3 fingers inside of Harry and he was removing them slowly, knowing he could press into him now, fill him up...so he did, he lined up and slowly moved into Harry, taking his time so Harry felt the new sensation of every inch he took of Louis until he was totally filled up with the older boy and his back was arched up off the bed. Louis pulled out slowly and rocked carefully back in, kissing Harry, not wanting to pull his lips off for anything in the world, they stayed like that for almost an hour, slow moving in and out, hips rocking up to meet softly against each other, Harry was moaning softly and spilling Lou's name from his lips, and all Louis wanted to do was live in this moment forever, to stay here on the edge of ecstasy with Harry until they couldn't take it anymore. Harry wanted it too, he loved the way Louis felt when he was moving slowly inside of him, he loved their rough sex, he loved calling Louis daddy, but this...God if he had to pick a way to spend his time with Louis it would be this way, frozen in time with nothing in the world breaking them apart, he hadn't stopped kissing Louis, their lips swollen and soft but pressing just hard enough to make Harry shiver, and in a mess of everything that was happening inside of him and around him Harry came, untouched and Louis gasped as Harry clenched around him, causing him to reach his orgasm too. He pumped into Harry a few more times, riding them both through it, before pulling out of the curly haired boy and laying next to him.

"Harry that was...shit you just blew my mind."

"I haven't come untouched before unless we were in a scene Louis, that was...that was the best orgasm I've ever had."

"Do you think maybe sometimes we just need it this way, we just need to be in love and let that take over? Maybe that's part of where we've been wrong, we get so wrapped up in the passion we forget that love is the driving force behind it."

"I think if it feels like that then fuck yes." Harry laughed before kissing Louis, "Fuck yes I think we should do that way more." Louis just giggled and kissed Harry again, agreeing without having to say so out loud.

Louis fell asleep curled around Harry, back to being the big spoon, back to having curls in his face and his love in his arms...Harry stayed awake though, waiting until he heard Louis sigh happily and his breathing slow, his heart rate had stopped racing and Harry felt that he was deep enough in sleep for him to be able to move out from the comfort of Lou's arms. He didn't want to leave but he had something he needed desperately to take care of right then, so he threw on a v-neck and pair of joggers before taking his phone and walking into the living room.

The phone rang 3 times before a voice on the other line said hello.

"It's me, I know I've fucked up and I need to apologize, and I want to, but I want to tell you first that I was an idiot and I need your help, we all need your help. Louis did this to protect me and now it's time I started protecting him, so what else do you need, what else can I give you to make this real because I've got to be able to love him...I've got to be able to love him out loud."

"Meet me in 15 minutes, room 325, bring your plane ticket to LA and if you have any conversations with the Azoff's bring those too, your phone I mean, texts, I'll see you in a few minutes and Harry..don't worry about apologizing, I've still been working on this behind the scenes, I knew you'd come around."

They hung up the phone and Harry walked back to the bed he'd left his lover asleep in, he stared at him for a few moments, noticing too that he'd grown skinner again, his ribs sticking out a bit, his hips sharper, his eyes sunken in too, but he looked alive, he looked more alive than he had the last couple times Harry saw him, he was okay, he was going to be okay, and Harry was going to help rebuild him, he was being crushed under the weight of everything he was carrying, Harry was done letting him carry it alone. He walked down the hall to where Daniel was staying and saw tons of papers laid out on the table...he had been working behind the scenes, and by the looks of it he'd been doing a lot.

"All I need is your plane ticket and a few conversations where the Azoff's know what's going on. I've got everything else I need, Eleanor provided me with a statement, so did Max, I've reached out to three other artists that were signed with modest who are willing to argue about their unfair working conditions too and I've got everything you and Louis gave me about your story. Liam provided some information about him and Zayn too, and Niall provided us information about some 'set ups' they'd tried to place him in to make it look like he'd slept with older women. I've got enough Harry, we can take them down, at the very least, we can get you away from them scotch free...everyone else has signed it, I just need you to sign this paper too and I'll leave on my flight in an hour, I'll go home and prepare the final touches and we'll get it sent off Harry, they'll know in 2 weeks, it's going to happen that quickly, so I need you to be ready. I'm leaving the girls with you all for the duration of your tour while I work on this, they really want to stay with you all, if that's okay."

"Of course Daniel, I...I'm a bit speechless if I'm quite honest, I didn't...I didn't think so many people would be so willing to speak for us, to help us."

"Harry, all of you lads have hearts of gold but when I specifically told people I was trying to help you and Louis be able to come out, they jumped at the opportunity to help. Everyone you touch knows how strong your love is, everyone you know is willing to help you with it." Daniel handed the pen to Harry who signed the paper quickly and his eyes lit up.

"We're actually doing this." He said, almost like he needed to hear it come from himself.

"We are." Daniel replied and pulled Harry in for a hug. "Now go back to Louis, you probably left the poor boy sleeping alone...I'll call you tomorrow."

Harry smiled and walked out of the room back down the hall to the boy that he loved, Louis had woken up in Harry's absence and was making two cups of tea and toast for them to share.

"Louis Tomlinson I love you so much." He said as he embraced the shorter boy.

"I love you too Harry." Louis said as he smiled and stretched up to kiss him.


	22. Rock Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is all smut, I just wanted to write smut today because I felt like it and that's all this is, just some daddy kink, light bondage, a touch of subspace, over use of baby/daddy smut. :)

It had been a while since they played, and after all the stress that had built up in them both, Louis knew they needed it, Harry loved giving himself up to Louis; mind, body, and soul...and Louis loved dominating him when they were in the moment, when Harry was looking up at him in obedience and admiration and the desire to please him was written all over the younger boys face. Louis never wanted to dom Harry unless they were playing, they'd make jokes here and there, Harry would let himself call Louis daddy outside the bedroom, Louis would know where to press Harry right beside the shoulder blade to make him pay attention, and they both loved to tease each other until they felt like they might lose it entirely...but he didn't ever want Harry to be submissive in their relationship outside of sex, they didn't share the BDSM lifestyle other than when Louis was making Harry cry out his name while he fucked him so hard he swore he could see God.

Tonight would be that night for them, Louis had decided around mid afternoon and he sent Alberto to the store to buy what they'd need, he blushed at the list and shook his head at Louis as he left, Alberto was amazing for a lot of reasons, but running these errands for him was one of the best ones. Louis needed some alone time to get himself ready; so he sent Harry out as well, to get a pint with Niall and told him to come home promptly at 8:30. Louis dimmed the lights a bit, lit a few candles, and put on his tightest pair of black jeans with the hole in the knee, he put on the deep red scoop neck t-shirt he knew Harry loved on him, and he waited. Harry walked in the door at promptly thirty minutes after eight and immediately gasped, realizing that Louis had set up a night for them to play, he tried to keep his eyes on the floor as he shut the door and took his shoes off, placing them neatly beside the couch. He pulled his hair behind his ears to show off his big eyes as he knelt down in front of Louis and looked up at him awaiting his command.

"Good boy," Lou began, "Harry, you're always such a good boy for me, and it's been a while since daddy let his good boy prove just how good he is, I had Alberto run to the store baby and buy a few things to help you show me just how much I mean to you baby, just how much you love taking orders from daddy."

Harry was breathing hard at the words falling from Lou's mouth, it'd been so long since he was spoken to like this, since Louis tore him apart with his compliments that were laced with desire, laced with passion, laced with power. Harry knew he was never in real harm, never in any danger, never ever in a position where one uttered word wouldn't stop this entire process, but he'd never been pushed to that point. Louis knew Harry better and more intimately than he'd ever known anyone else, and Harry felt safe and protected when Louis dominated him, he felt good and proud and special, all things Harry loved to feel, but most of all he felt pretty and soft which seemed ironic given the circumstances, but being Lou's submissive made Harry feel delicate, feel rare. 

There was a still silence in the air that both of them gave in to, Louis allowing his mind to wrap around what they were about to do, what feelings were about to be provoked in him, and Harry allowing his mind to mellow out, allowing his self to sit aside the stress and worry of everything they've been going through, to give Louis a blank canvas to work with, something to paint on, a surface to expel his creative genius on. Louis wasn't only a gifted song writer and singer, he was fucking Claude Monet when it came to Harry's body and mind, he was born to evoke the side of Harry that he thought he'd never find a match for, the fates had placed them together long before either of them knew there was such a sensation in the world, this had been in the stars years before their time.

"You look beautiful on your knees baby, and I'd love to take you apart right here, but I have a surprise for us in the bedroom, follow behind daddy now and keep close." Louis said as he walked off and Harry raised up off his knees to walk behind him, still looking down at the floor, his eyes would only travel up if Louis asked it of him. They made it to the bedroom and Harry dropped to his knees again, head towards the floor and he felt Louis pet his hair, the soft touch sent chills down his spine and forced his hips to rock forward a bit, something that usually would have earned him a hard slap, but Louis knew it'd been so long for both of them that he'd let it slide. 

"Get off your knees and open up the bag in the bathroom, put it on and walk back out here, kneel in front of the bed and keep your back towards me." Louis demanded without missing a beat. Harry picked himself up off the floor and walked into the bathroom before shutting the door and looking into the bag. It was a pink striped VS bag and Harry was anticipating something beautiful, he'd let it slip to Louis when they started this that he liked to wear pink lace, and Louis delivered, they were always the prettiest shades, soft pinks for when Harrys skin lacked color, bright pinks for the times his skin was tan and warm, sometimes there was black lace too, that was more for Louis, loving the way no matter what complexion Harry was, the black made his tight body look even better, the way it wrapped around his curvy hips. This time though, this time was a beautiful light pink lace, so pretty Harry thought he might cry, he loved getting to look beautiful, to feel beautiful, especially for Louis...there was a gloss in the bag too, it was tinted with a very very light pink color, Harry's lips were already the perfect shade, but sometimes Louis liked there to be a little extra shine on his boy's mouth, especially when he got to watch it move around his dick. Harry looked at himself in the mirror and knew that within moments Louis would be speaking to him in a deep voice, one that didn't shake, even though the thoughts in his head would be making it hard to function. Harry might be the submissive, but Louis lost his mind seeing Harry this way, he always had to try a little harder at first to get his role right, but Harry loved it and never let on to Louis that he knew, it was endearing watching Louis squirm inside himself.

Harry opened the door and walked back to the bed, kneeling in front of it with his back to Lou, he leaned back so that his ass was sitting on his feet and the lace bow at the back perked up perfectly. His hair curly and getting longer fell perfectly around his face and draped over his neck, his strong shoulder muscles stood out as Harry flexed without meaning to, or maybe he did mean to, but only a little. Louis walked up to stand close enough to Harry that he could almost feel him and took in a deep breath, trying to stay in the moment, stay dominant, he shook his head a little and let it work through his body before flexing his own shoulders, puffing out his chest a little and clearing his throat.

"Do you have any idea how hot you make me baby? How good your perk little ass looks with that pink lace around it? I could eat you up right now, swallow you whole, I think I'll take my time with this though, is that alright with you?" Lou asked

"Yes...yes daddy, I love it when you take your time with me." Harry replied sheepishly.

"Good, now climb up on the bed and lay face down." 

"Yes daddy." Harry replied as he made his way up in the position Lou asked him to be in.

Louis climbed on the bed too and pulled out the black bag from beside the other side of the bed, a vanilla scented massage oil was the first thing he grabbed, applying some to his hands before rubbing it along Harry's wide shoulders, kneading his fingers into the skin that wrapped tightly around the boy's muscles. Harry made kitten noises underneath him, sighing heavily when Louis worked his way down low, slipping his fingers underneath the pink lace, he worked his hands around his hips, slipping his fingers underneath the weight of his body and pressing into the sweet spots that made Harry get chills, he watched the little bumps pepper his skin and smiled.

"Does baby like it when daddy finds one of his spots, like it when all it takes is the movement of a few fingers to blow your mind...like it when you know you're surrendered to me fully?"

"I love it daddy, I love the way you make me feel, just a finger drives me crazy, I wanna be a good boy for you daddy, wanna make you so proud."

Louis did that thing again, where his breath hitches in the back of his throat because the only thing that gets his dick harder than calling Harry 'good boy' is Harry calling himself good boy.

"Say it again." Louis demanded.

"I wanna be a good boy for you daddy."

With that Louis flipped Harry over and threw himself on top of the younger boy, pressing their mouths hard against each other. The kiss was needy and impulsive and tinged with just enough force to make Harry's heart start racing, he opened his mouth and just let Louis take the lead, allowing him to lick into his tongue before he moved it around to chase Lou's. Louis pulled Harry's hair making his mouth open wider and giving himself more room to explore, almost like he'd never done this before, the most natural thing in the world but it was still as good each time as it was the first time. He loved the way Harry felt, the way Harry's mouth was the perfect fit to his...they kissed like that for a while; Louis letting Harry know exactly how much he needed him.

"You're such a good boy Harry, such a good boy." Louis said before he resumed kissing, this time was more precise, it's like he pulled himself out of the daze and back into his role. The kiss ends and Louis sat up on Harry's hips, looking down at the boy who's tattoos mirrored his. The pink lace looked just as good from this side, Harry's large bulge pressing against the front of the lace, the head creating a small opening at the bottom of his abdomen, one that Lou slipped his finger in and applied a light pressure to the slit of Harry's dick, making the boy's hips thrust forward in pleasure.

"Don't move." Louis instructed as he held his hips down, pressing his finger into the slit again and Harry managed to contain himself and let out a little grin at the way he was falling right back into his role perfectly, the good boy his daddy needed, being still while he touched him, made him feel so good.

Louis surprised Harry next, himself a bit too, as he crawled down the bed and brought his mouth to the pink lace, biting at it and nipping Harry's skin in the process, Harry tried not to gasp as Lou's tongue traced shapes into his skin, and before long he found himself biting his lip almost so hard it was bleeding because Louis was suddenly removing Harry's panties with nothing more than his teeth, working them all the way down over his strong thighs, calves and ending at his feet where Louis lifted himself off the bed, knelt at the foot of it and finished pulling them off with his mouth. He smiled at himself, feeling proud of the way Harry's body was withering on the bed, his lip bit harshly into his own mouth, Louis knew if they weren't playing right now Harry would be screaming, panting, inexcusably loud as he threw himself at Louis, but for now the younger boy just laid on the bed and tried to will himself to be still. Louis crawled back up the bed and up Harry's lean body, leaving love bites all up his legs, pressing his fingers into Harrys hips, licking the freshly bitten skin producing a pain and pleasure for Harry all at once until it became too much for him to handle, at the same time Louis noticed that Harry was so hard it had to be painful, he heard Harry speak.

"Daddy...da...please Daddy, touch me."

Louis looked at Harry for a moment with longing eyes, he was in control, but hearing Harry ask for it, fuck that tore him up.

"So needy baby, so fucking needy for daddy's hand around your cock. You can't wait can you, can't wait to feel my long fingers wrap around you, jerk you up a little bit while you fight the urge to buck up into my hand...but you'll be still won't you baby, because you want to make daddy proud."

"I'll be still daddy, so still, I want to make you know how good you are to me daddy, I want to make you proud, want to make you feel good too."

"You will baby, you'll make daddy feel so good." Louis let out as he finally wrapped his hand around Harry's cock. "You're so big baby, even in my hands you're so big, look at the way your dick curves baby, it's fucking beautiful." Louis told him before licking the tip and immediately swallowing Harry whole. Harry bragged about not having a gag reflex, Louis didn't have one either but that was knowledge only he and Harry got to share. Harry tried to resist the urge to buck his hips up into Lou's mouth, knowing tonight wasn't about bad decisions and punishment, tonight was about making daddy proud and making baby feel good. He kept his hips still through the sensation, and just as the muscles in his stomach began to tighten and he could taste blood from the way he bit his lips, Louis moved his mouth up off his dick and looked down at Harry.

"You're so close, but not yet baby, we said we'd take it slow right, so you have to wait, be patient for daddy."

Harry tried to speak, still working his way back off the edge of the orgasm he was just stopped from having. "Yes...yes daddy, patient." Only this time his words sounded a bit more floaty, Louis knew he was already on his way to subspace, being worked up so sweetly always took Harry away, and Louis loved seeing him there, the look on his face, the way the noises that fell from his mouth sounded more vulnerable, the way Harry was totally his in those moments.

"Such a good boy." Louis said as he flipped him back over, reaching for the black bag again, this time he pulled out handcuffs, pink ones that would be soft around Harry's wrists. He pulled His arms around his back and cuffed them together and pulled Harry's ass up higher in the air. He pulled out a matching pink blind fold and laid it in the small of Harry's back, before he put it around his head he spent a few moments running his fingers through Harry's hair before pulling it up into a bun, wrapping the pink blind fold around his face. Harry let out a low groan and the sound pulled one from Louis too.

"Does baby like the way he feels, his ass up in the air exposed for daddy, hands chained together behind his back, eyes covered with silk, your senses heightened just enough to make you have to try to feel me before I'm here. Try to feel my fingers before they touch you here *Louis placed his hand on the back of Harry's right thigh* or here *he placed his hand on the back of Harry's exposed neck*, or even here *he placed his hands on Harry's ass, spreading him apart just enough. You won't know when I'm about to do this either. *Louis pulled his hand back and placed a small smack to Harry's ass, followed by another, and another.* Do you like the way daddy makes you feel baby?"

"Daddy, more, please." Harry muttered, knowing that wasn't exactly an answer to his question but being unable to produce anything else.

"I love it when you ask politely" Louis replied before placing 10 more smacks to Harry's ass. He stopped to look at the pink color his cheeks were turning, almost red before he knew it, and he realized again in that moment how well Harry took him, how Harry's body knew exactly how to react to what Louis was doing.

"You're such a good boy, fuck Harry, such a good boy" Lou said before surprising Harry again, he pulled his cheeks apart and slid his tongue over Harry's hole, not licking in yet, but placing pressure around the rim and licking upwards. The chills invaded Harry's body again, goosebumps all over his skin as Louis worked his tongue up and down, over and back over his hole, stopping each time at the rim to place a little extra pressure before moving up and down once more. It was driving Harry crazy, not knowing when he'd finally press his tongue in, not being able to look over his shoulder and tell when it was going to happen. Louis felt Harry shake underneath him as he pressed his tongue deep inside the younger boy, he moved it in and out quickly, fucking his hole with nothing more than his pointed tongue, making Harry squirm and release pornographic noises.

"Daddy yes, fuck..daddy...yes." Harry let out, and Louis wanted it, he wanted to hear his baby so loud, he knew he could get louder, knew that in a few strokes of the tongue Harry would be screaming, so he dove in deeper, pressing his face closer in and within moments it was happening, loud screams erupting from the boy he loved, screams and moans and gasps. DaddyDaddyDaddy was all he could say, it took all the effort he had to just keep from falling apart right there. "Daddy. Daddy. Fuck.' Harry came, right there on the bed, exploding on the sheet beneath him while trying to keep his weight up, keep his ass in the air for Louis.

"God baby, untouched again, how does it feel?"

"Mmm" Harry replied, and Louis knew, he knew because he felt it too and he hadn't even come yet, but Harry didn't have to speak for Louis to know it meant everything.

"Think I could fuck you now?" Louis asked, "I want to fuck you now, I don't even want to use the lube. I think you're wet enough baby." 

"Mmm, daddy." Harry replied as Lou lined himself up with Harry's opening, it was pink and wet and Louis knew he'd work his way in with a little resistance, but Harry liked to feel him the next day anyway, and Louis wanted to make it hard tonight, he wanted to feel Harry tight around him, feel the little extra push it took to bottom out.

"I love you so much, my good boy" Louis told him as he thrust inside, stopping for a moment to let Harry catch the breath he let out with a moan, before pressing inside deeper, bottoming out in three thrusts, allowing himself to totally fill Harry up, feeling the way Harry's body adjusted around his cock.

"So fucking tight for me baby, such a good tight boy for daddy." Louis praise Harry as he pulled the cuffs that linked his wrists together causing Harry's back to arch up, that one felt more like pain than pleasure; but it was the good kind. Harry needed that hurt to go with the pleasure, he liked to feel bad while he felt good. Louis pulled the handcuffs again creating a bigger arch before pulling out and thrusting into him again, it took no time at all to get into a smooth motion of pounding Harry's perfect ass close to his second orgasm.

"You feel so fucking good Harry, such a...fuck...such a tight little hole, such a hot fucking body. Do you have any idea how good you look right now? Your ass taking my cock so well. Filthy boy Harry, you're fucking filthy."

"Daddy, fuck...fuck me harder daddy."

Louis thrust harder, deeper, letting Harry's name fall out of his mouth as he pounded him into the mattress, he loved the way Harry's hands were restrained behind his back, totally at Lou's mercy. He grabbed them again and thrust inside of Harry harder, causing the young boy to begin crying, but it was a good kind of release, Louis knew he was close, which was good because Louis was too, when they did it this way, when he used his force to fuck Harry into the mattress, he was ready to come in minutes, being unable to control the way this made him feel, how powerful he felt.

"Baby, wanna make daddy come?" Louis asked Harry.

"Yes, please daddy" Harry replied as he pressed his ass harder against Lou's hips and tightened his muscles around him, a few pulses and a scream of "Fuck, yes Harry" later Louis was coming inside the younger boy, filling him up and thrusting him through it, he reached around and took a hold of Harry's cock too, pressing up twice was all it took to make Harry come all over the sheets, again.

"Such a good boy for daddy." Louis reminded him as he pulled out leaving Harry feeling empty, that sensation was enough to make Harry drop each time, make him hit a low and Louis felt it too, their intimacy brought them so much pleasure together, ending it, separating that took a lot out of both of them. Louis pulled the blindfold off first and let Harry's hair fall down before kissing his neck and shoulders and leaving a trail of lovebites along his back before removing the handcuffs. Harry's arms fell lax on both sides of his body and he laid motionless for a moment, letting out more kitten noises, little hums and nuzzling his head into nothing. Louis knew Harry needed to be cuddled, held and talked back up so he ran to the bathroom to grab a towel and cleaned them both off before pulling Harry into his lap and running his long fingers through the curly boy's hair.

"You did so well baby, you took me so well, you're so pretty Harry, so fucking pretty, every thing about you Harry, every part of you is heavenly. I love you so much it almost hurts, it hurts because it's everything all at one time. Your perfect mind, your beautiful soul, your amazing light and that body, God Harry, you're such a good boy." Louis told him, telling him over and over again how much he loved him. This time it took about 15 minutes for Harry to come back down, his eyes sort of snapping back into focus when he returned, looking at the adoration on Lou's face and smiling back at it, knowing he'd done well.

"Did I make you proud?"

"You always do."


	23. Right Now

Louis woke up to his phone ringing, the name on the caller ID was the only one he'd be up this early for...Harry was still asleep in his arms, so he reached over to grab the phone, trying not to wake his love.

"Hello?" Louis asked with a sleepy voice.

"Louis, I just needed to chat with you for a moment. I hope this is okay but I wanted to give you a bit of a heads up...I've sent the letter to Modest, they should get it in two days...I gave them the option to settle out of court but told them if they didn't that I'd be prepared with evidence to take them to trial and that I was confident that we'd win. I think it's important that you all stay strong for the next couple days and if they call you and Harry in to talk about things tell them you've been advised by your lawyer not to speak to them on the matter unless it is done formally with me present. I can fly wherever you need me to be if they reach out to you, but urge them to speak to me if they'd like to settle, otherwise, I'll see you all in court and we'll take care of this Louis, you all deserve it."

"Daniel I...I don't know what to say, I know you said we were doing this I just didn't expect it to happen this soon. I, I'm so thankful for you...I can't say it enough."

"Louis it was a pleasure, truly, please let me know if you need anything at all."

"I will Daniel, thanks again, I know you'll be hearing from us soon."

"Take care." Daniel said as he hung up the phone and Louis smiled widely, nervously, but widely...things were going to be great, beautiful, wonderful, amazing...but the road to getting there was going to be rough and right now he just wanted to exist in the hopeful future, so he wrapped his arms back around Harry and nuzzled into the back of his neck, smelling the scent of his curls, whispering into his ears, words Harry wouldn't hear, but deserved to be said anyway.

"Harry Styles, I love you so much, so fucking much. The way you exist, every little thing about you, you have no idea how happy I am that one day soon, God Harry...one day soon I'll be able to tell everyone how much I love you, I'll be able to tell them all how beautiful your eyes are in the morning, how amazing your smile looks when you're cooking in just your apron...maybe I won't tell everyone that part, but you get it right, you get it? I just want everyone to know that you're mine, you're mine for life and I love you. I love you beyond measure Harry Styles."

"Louis Tomlinson, you proper sap, if you don't follow that speech up with a kiss right this moment I will personally climb on top of you and rectify this situation myself." Harry smiled at him.

"I thought you were asleep, you weren't meant to hear that." Louis blushed.

"Oh come on, you tell me sweeter things than that when I'm awake, I love it Louis, I love when we have these moments where I can be yours and you can be mine and we don't have to worry about who's around to hear it."

"Come here curly." Louis stated as he pulled Harry closer and kissed his lips gently.

"I love you Louis." Harry said as he pulled away and rolled out of bed, his bladder ready to burst if he didn't empty it right then.

"Always ruining the romance, Styles..." Louis laughed.

 

A few hours passed and the lads were preparing for their concert that night, Louis had yet to tell anyone else about the call from Daniel, wanting to keep it to himself until the day the letter would reach management, not wanting them to worry or be nervous as well. They all stood in a circle before it was their time to go on stage, saying a quick prayer, thanking each other for still being here together, doing all of this as a band...as best friends, and Harry leaned over to steal a quick kiss from Louis as the first note to the song played and they stormed the stage.  

Their concerts were amazing, the dynamic of every show had grown and changed since they found out they had help and hope to get out of a bad situation, they'd had more power and more desire to show their fans what they were truly made of, they wanted to set the star for their own coming of age, for the next few months when they'd get to become who they really were, who they'd been all along, and it was obvious in the range of their vocals, the way they danced, their stage presence in general...it was all more intense and tonight Louis was even more on fire, it was obvious...the crowd was going crazy for the entire band, but specifically for Louis, and there was a moment when he let it all get him a little too involved.  Harry was singing little things in the same way he usually did, staring at Louis, and Louis allowed his eyes to meet Harry's for a few seconds too long, before a grin broke across his face and blush kissed his cheeks, he winked at Harry before looking into the crowd and hearing a few gasps in the middle of cheers, the cameras had been focused on them at just the right time and the entire stadium had seen, Louis just smiled larger, knowing that all of this...all of this would be theirs soon.  Harry looked at him and shook his head with a similar large smile and in that moment he fell in love with Louis all over again.

"That was insane mates." Niall shouted as they got off stage, "Louis, oh my God that wink at Harry...what were you thinking? That was bloody brilliant, you'll probably get some shit for it but it was amazing!"

Louis smiled back at him before pulling Harry into a deep embrace and stretching up to kiss his nose.

"I love you, Curly."

"I love you too Lou." He replied, kissing the older boy's forehead.

"Pints, lads?" Liam asked, and they all agreed, going to a club they'd had Alberto scout out for them earlier in the afternoon and within the hour they were relaxing in a VIP section drinking and dancing.  Louis had Harry sitting close enough to him to wrap their ankles together under the table and Zayn was sitting beside Liam, since it wasn't widely known that they were together they were allowed to be closer with meant Zayn could let his fingers under Liam's trouser line and press into his hips.  He straightened his back at the touch and Louis laughed, Harry winking at Zayn while they all enjoyed the environment.  Niall made fake vomiting noises insinuating that the lads were making him sick, but he loved it, wouldn't change this for the world...he missed Jessica, she'd decided to stay in with Maddy because she was feeling ill...and regardless, if his lads were happy, he was too.  They got proper drunk before deciding to turn in for the night and head back to the hotel, and for as much as Harry wanted to take Louis when they got home, he fell asleep in his lap during the cab ride back and Louis didn't have the strength to do much anyway, so they fell asleep with lazy kisses instead, Louis wouldn't ever say it out loud, but he loved nights like this just as much as nights when he got to fuck Harry into the mattress, he loved just kissing Harry sweetly and whispering sweet nothings into his skin.

 

Morning came too soon but Louis was brought out of dreams to kitten kisses and the smell of blueberry pancakes.  

"I ordered room service and I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach." Harry laughed as Louis saw all the plates in front of them.

"You're a man in love with excess, Styles." Louis joked to his boyfriend as he kissed his cheek and sat up to eat beside him.  An hour and two very full tummies later the lads got out of bed and drug themselves to shower, Louis first because he knew if they got in together it'd lead to shower sex and though he didn't want to turn that down, he did agree that since Maddy and Jessica were feeling better they'd all go out and get ice cream, the thought made Louis sick now but he knew within the hour or two he'd be hungry again. He left the water running for Harry as he got out and Harry took his place, slapping his ass as he walked past him, Louis grabbed his hand before he could jerk it away and bit into Harry's lip as he pulled him into a kiss before pushing him away and in to the shower.

"Curly you better watch it, we've got to leave in 15 and we don't have time for your fun and games right now." Louis teased him as he walked out of the bathroom.  He got dressed quickly, pulling on a pair of jeggings and a vans t-shirt.  He laid out a pair of matching jeggings for Harry and one of their white shirts before walking into the living room area to wait for the younger boy.  Harry came out in his outfit a few moments later...

"Like what you see Louis?" Harry asked seductively, and Louis licked his lips before standing up to press a hard kiss into the boys lips, something about Harry in their shirt made his stomach fill with desire, the way it fit Harry so much differently than it fit him, the way it stretched across Harry's broad shoulders and was sheer enough to let you glimpse at the black ink across his skin.  He loved the way Harry looked in anything, but fuck, this look was one of his favorites.

"Now who's the one with the fun and games?" Harry asked pulling away.

"Don't get too cocky mister." Louis said, "I can make you come down with a mean case of a sore throat and you'd have to miss your ice cream." Louis threatened with a smile.

"Get the hell out of this room now before I take you up on that." Harry demanded, grabbing his arm and leading him outside.  They'd been together for so long but the sexual desire never left either one of them, they were mad about each other in every sense of the word, and it only made their bond deeper...but it was always good to get out with the group, and going to get ice cream sounded like the best way to spend their afternoon.

They'd been right, two hours later they were caught up in laughter and jokes and stories with the group and Louis was sure he felt tears falling down his cheeks they'd been laughing so hard.  He was curled over in pain when he looked up at Maddy and she signaled that she wanted to take him alone for a moment, so he nodded at her and told the table he'd be back.

 

"Dad said the letter should be to modest tomorrow, are you ready for this Louis? Have you told the lads?"

"I haven't told them...but I'm ready, yes, if anything they'll come at me for it anyway, and I'll take the blame, I'll say it was all my idea and it'll be fine...they think I'm the root of any trouble we get in to, so no one will get punished for it but me."

"They won't be able to punish you any more though, I mean...this is the beginning of the end for them Louis...my dad can do this, I trust him, I know he can." Maddy assured Louis and reached out to grab his hand.

"Maddy I can't thank you enough, you've been everything for us these last few days, you truly have." Louis told her and pulled her in for an embrace.  

They walked back to the table and joined the rest of the group, Louis reaching for Harry's hand and grasping it tightly.  He knew tomorrow would bring uncertainty, it would bring nervousness, it would bring anger, but he couldn't consider that because in the days after, it would bring freedom, redemption, love, light...life back to them.

Jessica and Maddy followed the lads to the arena where they rehearsed and ate a quick meal and just relaxed before their show, they did better together, Josh loved being around Maddy and Niall loved having Jessica on his arm, Zayn and Liam were cuddled on a sofa and Harry was sitting in Louis' lap so Louis could run his fingers through his curls, life was good, this was good.  Their 3 minute warning came on and everyone got up and got ready to storm the stage, prepared for another amazing night, and they blew even their own expectations of the water after Louis finally dropped the ball.

"Lads, tomorrow the letter from Daniel will get to Modest, let's fucking kill it out here tonight." Louis said, and they all gasped and joy spread across their faces, they stormed the stage and blew every song, every verse, every note out of the water, the crowd demanded an encore and the lads played an extra song at the end as a surprise to everyone, and themselves...it went off without a flaw, without a problem at all.  They got back stage and were all running off of the most perfect high they'd ever experienced, a natural, amazing place they were all at together.

"So tomorrow?" Zayn spoke first.

"Tomorrow." Louis said and Harry came behind him and spun him around in to a kiss.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked excitedly.

"I just didn't want you all to carry the nerves around for days, I mean, we go out tonight and have some pints, tomorrow, it happens...now you all can relax." Louis told Harry but meant it for the entire group.

"Louis, you're always taking care of us, let me take care of you tonight." Harry said with a wink and Louis...God Louis was on board with that.

The lads went back to the hotel for drinks instead of going out and they lasted about an hour together before Maddy and Josh went their separate ways, then Niall and Jessica, followed by Zayn and Liam until just Harry and Louis were in the flat together and Harry wasted no time sneaking off to the bedroom to light a few candles.

"Louis baby, come here." He yelled down the hallway and Louis walked back to the bedroom they were sleeping in, Harry was standing beside the bed and he walked towards Louis, pushed the door closed behind him and pressed Louis against it, gently, but with focus. He kissed him, slow at first until he bit into his bottom lip and then licked his way into Louis' mouth, he was taking control tonight, this didn't happen often, hadn't happened in months but the butterflies in Louis' stomach were turning into fucking bats and he wanted this, needed this so bad.

"Fuck...Harry...fuck." Louis breathed out against his warm skin and Harry took the time to hoist him upwards and on to the bed.  He peeled his jeans off, followed by his briefs, then lifted the shirt up over his head and looked down at the naked boy beneath him.

"I'm going to take my time with you Louis, I'm going to move slowly over your body, kissing every inch, licking trails over the parts of you I bite into, I'm going to start here..." he said as he placed a kiss to Louis' forehead, "Then continue here..." he placed a kiss to Louis' cheek, "Then here..." to his nose, "here..." to his other cheek, "here..." to his lips, and he continued down his face, his neck, his collar bones.  He bit into the skin on the right side of his neck first, into Louis' sweet spot, and licked over it, pain and cooling pleasure all in the same breath, then the left side, then the middle of his chest before moving down to the right, taking his nipple into his mouth.  He licked over the bud, before biting into it and breathing over it, then the left side, biting harder on this one before licking over the bud again and sucking it into his mouth, causing Louis' back to arch in pleasure.

"Fuck, Harry...me...please, fuck." 

"Baby, I told you I'm taking it slow tonight." Harry said as he lifted off his nipple.

Harry brought his lips back to Louis' aching body; kissing, licking, and biting down his chest and abdomen, trailing his tongue over the dips and curves of Louis' body...kissing his hips, biting his spots, the ones that made chills cover his skin.  Harry brought his fingers up to his mouth, sucking two, three of them inside before removing them slowly, looking into Louis' eyes without breaking contact. He brought his hand down and massaged over Louis' hole...slowly pressing a finger against it, but not in just yet, he brought his mouth down to Louis' thighs...the parts of his body that drove him the most wild, and pressed love bites into them until Louis was bucking his hips uncontrollably and begging Harry for more, moremoremoremore.

"Okay baby, okay." Harry said as he pressed finger inside of Louis and he groaned so loud Harry thought he could die in that sound, die in that moment, let it surround him forever.  Louis sounded so sexy when he allowed himself to really feel Harry, and since this didn't happen often Harry didn't get to get drunk on these noises a lot..he was soaking it in as he slid his second finger in next to hit and began to scissor him open, moving his fingers slowly in opposite directions and as deep inside of Louis as he could get, finding his prostate and rubbing slowly against it.  Louis arched his back and HarryHarryHarry fell from his lips as he  wiggled his body trying to get more.  Harry finally slid his last finger inside and Louis was hungry for it, jerking his hips back and forth looking for friction although there was nothing there, he was losing sensation of everything on his body except the way he felt full of Harry and he needed his cock, he was ready to beg for it.

"Harry please, God please fuck me." Louis let out breathlessly

"Fuck Louis, okay." He said and he pulled his fingers out, spit into his own hand and lubed himself up, knowing finding lube would take too long and fearing Louis might actually go crazy.  He lined himself up with Louis and hovered over his body, bringing his face down so his lips could press against Louis' mouth as he slowly slid inside causing Louis to let out a moan into Harry's mouth.  Both boys were on fire, the feeling of Louis clenched around Harry drove them both mad, the way Harry moved his hips a little bit to the left and hit Louis' prostate and send him into overdrive, he was clawing at Harry's back, kissing him feverishly, unable to move or concentrate on anything else except the pleasure floating through his body and when Harry brought his hips back and pressed in roughly Louis came, untouched, between them, the way his body tightened and his hole wrapped harder around Harry caused him to come too, deep inside Louis, fucking him through it.

"Harry, fuck...that was..." Louis tried to speak but couldn't, he just smiled at Harry who had collapsed on top of him.

"I love you so much Louis." Harry spoke into his chest.

"I love you too Styles." Louis replied, and rolled the younger boy off of him so he could get a towel and clean them off, he got back, wiped them down and threw the towel on the ground before curling around Harry and falling deep into sleep next to him, hearing Harry whisper praises into his neck until they drifted off.

 

The envelope had arrived at Modest that morning, delivered to a group of unsuspecting men.

"To Whom It May Concern,

In this envelope you will find a formal presentation from Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Liam Payne who have decided that the contract they signed with you has not been held up on your end.  We would like to settle this matter outside of court but if we can not come to the agreement we are prepared to see you in a trial and we have evidence that would make it hard for you to put up a good fight against us.  Eleanor Calder has also signed a statement wishing to be relieved of her duties, you'll find all of this is in the paperwork that comes to follow.  Please consider meeting with us privately to discuss this matter, again, if we can not reach an agreement outside of court those listed above have requested a court date within the month.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Daniel Johnson"

The packet of paperwork was alarming, how had this much evidence been gathered against them?  The first thing Modest did was assemble a team to go to the boys and sit them down, figure out what was really going on and talk them out of it, starting with Louis and Harry.

 

Louis' phone rang the next morning too early, too soon, he was angry so he tried to ignore it, but ring three woke him from his sleep and he realized it had to be Modest.

"Hello?" He answered sleepily.

"Louis, you and Harry need to be ready within 4 hours, go to the airport and wait there, we're sending a team to meet with you both, you'll be taken to a restaurant with a private room to speak over lunch and this matter will be squared away by then.  Goodbye." The call disconnected and Louis felt sick...he immediately dialed Daniel.

"Daniel, they're sending a team here, 4 hours is all we've got."

"I'll be there in two and a half, meet me at the airport." 

"I, how.."

"Louis I'll be there...go get ready and I'll see you both soon."

"Thank you, for everything." Louis said but Daniel had disconnected, obviously needing to hurry and prepare and book a flight.  Louis looked at Harry, still sleeping peacefully so he decided to let the boy with the curls keep dreaming while he shot a text to Maddy.

'Your dad is on his way.' it said

'He just called, I'll come with you all, I'd like to see him.'

'Meet us in our room in two hours?'

'See you then Lou, it's going to be okay. :)'

 

Harry began to stir beside him and Louis tried to still so he wouldn't wake, but it was too late...

"Good morning beautiful, how do you feel?" Harry asked.

"I feel great, I'm wonderful, I love you. They're coming but everything is good, last night...babe last night was amazing, my body is just...I still feel like you're here, touching all over me. I can't shake you Harry Styles."

"Louis Tomlinson I'm happy you can't, now how long do we have?"

"A little under two hours."

"Let's make the best of it, shall we?" Harry winked and planned to leave Louis breathless again.

 

Two hours later there was a knock at the door and Harry let Maddy in, Louis was finally showering, taking a bit to move after being ravished not just once but twice in the last twelve hours, and he met them in the living room with a bit of a stagger.

"Long night?" Maddy asked with a laugh.

"Doesn't happen that often." Louis replied. "Missed it though...well worth...this."

They made their way to a taxi out front and were soon at the airport, Maddy ran inside to get to her dad while Harry and Louis waited outside, they were to be taken to a private lounge to wait when Modest arrived but they couldn't be seen yet, especially not with Daniel, he would be a surprise.  So Maddy and her dad walked out and they asked the taxi to drive them to a coffee shop down the road that looked like it wasn't frequented earlier, they were right, there was a table at the back they sat in and only two patrons were in the building but them, an older couple so they were able to walk in without being noticed.

"This is it lads, are you ready?" Daniel asked.

"I...I'm nervous." Louis replied, voice shaking.

"I'm ready, I've been ready Daniel." Harry replied sounding strong and suddenly Louis knew how much this really meant to him, Harry had always been ready to be open, more prepared to be honest and Louis had been more eager to shut it down, for good reason, but he knew this...this was Harry's time to shine.

"Good, we need you both to be strong though this process, they're going to fight you, they're going to make you feel like we can't win this, but it's only because we can and we will."

Louis' phone rang.

"They caught a different flight, please make your way to the airport now, they've arrived already and are waiting in a black limousine out front, you will follow behind them in a taxi and make your way to the restaurant...the cab is out front of your hotel."

"Harry and I went to grab coffee, we'll take a taxi from here." Louis said as he hung up.

"Time to go, they arrived early." Louis stated.

Maddy hugged the boys bye before grabbing a taxi of her own and Daniel, Louis, and Harry got into one, Daniel sitting between them, the windows weren't dark enough to hide him but they doubted 'the team' Modest prepared would be paying much attention anyway.

The taxi pulled behind the limousine and followed them to a restaurant, the team got out first and Louis swallowed in fear at who they sent, the one person that really got under his skin...followed by two others, and Harry held his hand tighter, brought a peck to his lips, apologized to Daniel for leaning over him, and opened the door...they all got out and followed behind them, no one saying a word, no one acknowledging Daniel's existence until they told them they needed a table for 5, Louis spoke up and corrected it to 6, and Mike shot him a look and shook his head...6 Louis said again, and the host nodded and asked the group to follow him to the back room.

 

They were all seated when Mike pulled out the file and spread it on the table.

"Care to explain this mess?" He asked Louis.


	24. Not an update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sick about a lot of things and I'm asking for reader input.

This has been my first chaptered work, it's been my baby and Zayn plays a critical role in it as Zayn from One Direction which is why I'm at a loss....

As many of you know and probably feel too; my heart is sad about Zayn and that may be a general understatement. I'm sick about it, I've felt off for the last 48 hours and I just have this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that won't go away. I don't want to be mad at him, I want him to be happy but this entire situation just isn't right, it's really not. 

I don't know what to do now, I have a chapter for this fic almost finished but I wanted to ask you all, the readers, what you wanted to see...

Do you wish to see Zayn in this fic further or do you wish to see him written out? 

Please let me know, I want to keep you all happy with my story but as I said I'm at a cross road and I just want some input.


	25. Ready To Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I sort of abandoned this over the last few weeks...it was just hard to keep writing about One Direction as a 5/5 when they're not, but I miss Zayn, and I think I needed to just feel that out before I wrote again, so here is the new chapter, and I hope my writing is still up to par about it for you loves. I was gonna make this have about 6 - 10 more chapters but I don't know if my heart is in it to finish all of that.

Harry looked at Louis and wanted to speak first, say something before Louis could get a word in, but it was too late.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Louis began, “I kept wondering how long you could do this, how long you could get away with making us be your puppets, at first it was fun, we got praised when we did good, when we made you all money or bonuses or whatever it was you needed from us that week, or month…but then it was just anger…we didn’t do enough of this or we did too much of that and God forbid I even look in Harry’s fucking direction, you made our lives a living hell, you made us break down and be so afraid of who we were that we didn’t want to be those people anymore. You made me think that loving Harry was wrong, well you tried to, but I knew…I knew through all of it that loving him is the thing in this world that makes the most sense, it’s the most right…so you didn’t break us, but you fucking tried. You put us through hell on so many levels, I’ve wanted to say this for so long but I couldn’t…and then…God then by some miracle we found a way out, we found help, we found someone who cared about us enough to say look, this is too much, it has to end. So now, here we are boys, this has to end.” Louis spoke very matter of factly and Harry knew that Louis must have practiced that for hours, but it went off perfectly and Harry was just staring at him with pride.

“Well…”

“No, I’m not finished. I…how…why would you do this, how did you sleep at night knowing you were making people so unhappy, so miserable…was it worth it, was all the money worth this?” Louis’ voice shook with that question, it wasn’t one he rehearsed, that was one he was asking from the pieces of a cracked heart…that was personal.  


“Louis we didn’t set out to make your lives a living hell, get off of it, you are a talented group of lads, you can make money, we helped you get to a point of fame where making money was as easy as breathing, we helped build you…and we could destroy you just as easily. You found some small town lawyer to help take your case, do you not realize we have more money from you alone to take him down twice over?”

“That’s not entirely true.” Daniel spoke up, and everyone at the table looked shocked that he’d spoken out against them. “You see, I’m ready and able to go to court, I’ve already called in people willing to help, as a matter of fact, two of them are previous acts that were signed with you who also felt like their contracts were violated and their rights as humans infringed upon due to the harsh set of rules you laid out for them. I’d hate to bring all of this to court, so, as the letter stated, we’re giving you the option to settle. You have all the necessary information in front of you, everything you need is there and in the two letters in the back you’ll see given testimony from the clients I spoke of, what they are willing to tell a judge and jury, and Louis and Harry, actually the entire band all together, are willing to tell their story too. I’ll give you a week to think about it, but you want to play your cards very carefully, because you may not want to go down without a fight, but this small town lawyer and the band he’s protecting…we’re not either.” Daniel spoke to modest before turning to Harry and Louis. “Come on lads, the rest of the day awaits us.”

Daniel stood up and pushed in his chair, Harry and Louis soon followed suit and when they left the restaurant Harry was jumping up and down and he threw himself into Louis, knocking the boy off his balance a little bit.

“Oh my God, that was incredible.” Harry shouted as he pulled Louis in for a kiss, it was on a sidewalk, in a town where people knew their name, and Harry was kissing Louis’ lips, in the middle of the day and Louis didn’t pull away, instead he pushed back into the kiss, biting Harry’s lower lip, coaxing a groan to fall from his mouth

“I fucking love you Curly.” Louis told him as they got into the car with Daniel, and Harry smiled.

 

"Can we stop for liquor?" Louis asked when they were a bit down the road.

"Of course, I'll go in and grab a few things, what would you boys like?" Daniel asked.

"Some tequila maybe, some beer, just anything is fine, wanna celebrate with the lads."

"Of course boys." Daniel said as he exited the car, and suddenly Louis and Harry were alone sans the driver.

"I have to touch you." Harry told Louis as he climbed into his lap and pulled him into a deep kiss, it was needy but soft, strong but gentle, he licked along Louis' bottom lip until Louis moaned his name and opened his mouth to let him in, they allowed their tongues to explore the other's mouth, gently, like it was the first time all over again...Louis wanted to feel more of Harry so he threw his arms around him and pulled him impossibly close, their hearts racing to the same beat.

"I love you, fuck I love you so much." Louis spoke into Harry's mouth.

"I love you too Louis, so fucking much." Harry replied and pulled away from the kiss, bringing his lips to Louis' forehead and placing a kiss there. "I can't believe this could finally be happening..."

"Not could be Curly, it is happening." Louis replied and raised Harry off his lap, sitting him beside his body instead, pulling him in close just as Daniel made his way back to the car, and a few red lights later the boys were back at the hotel.

"Will you send Maddy and Josh down, and then the rest of you can celebrate? I know you want them to be part of it too but I have a surprise for her...if that's okay." Daniel said.

"Of course, I'll send her right down, thanks again Daniel, so much." Harry told him.

Harry and Louis made it to the elevator and kissed passionately until they reached their floor, Harry's face was so bright, his smile so big, he looked young again, sort of like when this all started, and Louis chased after him when the elevator stopped and Harry ran down the hall laughing. Louis looked up and saw Harry looking back at him and in that moment the entire world stopped, the only people who existed were Louis and Harry, and then he winked, he had to fucking wink at him, before starting to run again and Louis knew, in that moment, he'd marry Harry some day, every day, over and over for the rest of his life.

"Maddy, Josh, Daniel is waiting downstairs, the rest of you lads, get to the balcony!" Louis yelled as he entered in the room. 

Harry hugged Maddy goodbye and smiled at Josh as they made their way down to Daniel and the rest of the boys waited on the balcony until Harry arrived. 

"We did it boys, you should have seen their faces!" Louis began, "I swear they didn't know what hit them, at first they thought it was a prank and then Daniel spoke up and told them all the ways they'd been wrong, all the ways they went against what we were told and what we signed, we left them with paperwork to look over and Daniel said he'd give them a few days to make a decision as to what steps they're going to take next, but we did it, it's fucking out there." 

"You, you really did it." Zayn looked at Louis and pulled him in for a deep embrace, "I...after all the pain and the hurt and the closeting...you, you did this." Louis hadn't ever seen that look on Zayn's face before, but he knew in that moment that this was something Zayn needed just as much as he did, the lads were all close, but there was always a shadow cast over Zayn's heart too, that's why he and Louis had so many shared stories, so many things in common, they dealt with everything in the same way, and even though at first Zayn had been against all of this, when he let himself feel the love he had for Liam, Louis knew that this was just as important to him. 

"I did this. We all did this, Maddy and Daniel, Jess, I mean...this is all of us. Harry, fuck, Harry I love you so much, you are the best part of everything in my life." Louis looked over to him with a smile. "I wouldn't be me without you, I would just be going through the motions." Harry walked to Louis and brought him in for a gentle kiss and the lads poured drinks around them.

"Here's to us." Niall shouted as the drinks were passed out and the boys all allowed their glasses to embrace against each other before drinking them down and this continued well into the evening. Niall ordered pizzas and the lads shared drinks and stories and laughs and tears, feeling like the new age was truly upon them. Maddy and Josh returned with an extra glow as the sun was setting and Louis made a mental note to ask what that was about later, it wasn't until 8:30 that they were reminded what exactly they were celebrating for.

Harry answered his phone on the second ring.

"We'll be up to your rooms in ten minutes." Was all he heard before the phone call disconnected.

"Shit." Harry said aloud, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Wh...What?" Louis said, standing up shakily.

"Modest is coming, up...10 minutes." Harry replied as the lads all looked at each other, wondering what to do next. Maddy and Jessica immediately got to cleaning, throwing away 3 bags of trash in the 10 minutes before Modest reached the door, all that remained was a half full pizza box and a couple cans of beer, they'd sprayed air freshener and told the boys to splash some water on their faces and look alive. Niall brought Jessica in for a hug as the knock on the door came and kissed her forehead before she slipped on her shoes and her and Maddy opened the door, nodded at the 3 men standing in front of them, and slid outside.

"I assume you've all been aware of this for a while, and to be quite honest this type of press isn't something we're prepared to handle...we've got the likes of some great artists still signed with us who don't have the problematic behavior and attitudes that you do, so we're willing to give in and play your little game, but when you can't find someone else to pull you through the shit storm you're walking into, do not come back to us." 

"Wait..." Louis began.

"Shut up." Harry told him before beginning to speak again. "You, you're giving in? This is over, we're free?"

"If this is what your idea of freedom is, the ability to have no management team, no real chance at musical stardom, and the rumor mill flying while your empire crumbles around you...yes, you are free. We will have to work out some fine details with your hired lawyer but we will meet with him separately, this was just our goodbye to you." The three men stood up and walked out the door and for a moment no one spoke a word, no one wanted to break the silence.

"Harry..." Louis let out sounding so small, and when Harry looked at him he noticed he was crying. "I...what are...I fucking ruined everything, he's right, we have nothing, no one...what are we going to do?" Louis began to panic, everything around him was spinning and Harry knew he needed to get out of his head for a minute.

"Lads, why don't you all go shower and sober up a bit and we can meet back here in an hour or so?" Harry tried to get the boys out of their room so they could have some time alone, and Liam got the hint, dragging Zayn out the door first, Niall agreed to go with Josh to meet the girls and within moments they were alone. Louis was still crying in Harry's lap, and it was a mix between a scared sob and a relieved cry.

"Come with me." Harry demanded as he stood up and pulled Louis into their bedroom, in moments they were both naked, Louis lying on the bed with his back arched, Harry had three fingers inside him already and the tears had stopped falling long enough for Louis to be brought down to somewhere that Harry could feel him again. He was no longer floating in a mix of his negative emotions, he was centered again, he was home. Harry worked his fingers in and out of Louis quickly, massaging his prostate before Louis was begging for Harry to just get inside of him. 

"I love you." Harry pressed into Louis' neck with a kiss while he slid inside him, Louis arching his back at the contact as Harry drove his hips forward. 

"I love you too." Louis said in a moment of ecstasy and Harry could feel that Louis was already close, being so worked up the immediate release did wonders for Louis, so he slid in and out of him slowly, wanting to make it last a little bit longer, making love to Louis to calm him down, to keep him here with Harry. He grabbed his cheeks and looked longingly into Louis' eyes, capturing every bit of the deep blue they were as he filled his ears with praise.

"You are so good to me Louis, so fucking good, you take care of me, of us, all of us...I know we call Liam daddy direction but it's you who has our strength in your pocket, who has our wellbeing in your hands. I can't imagine doing any of this without you, but especially being here, you're the reason we're all strong. You're the reason I am the man that I am today, you're my today, my yesterdays, my tomorrows, my forever...you are every bit as magical to me now as you were the day we met, and you will continue to be the star that guides me home." Harry kissed him and they both peaked together, crying and Harry continued to fuck Louis gently through it.

"Hey you." Louis told him as he gently pulled out of Louis and fell to the bed beside him.

"Hi." Harry replied out of breath, "I'm glad you're back with me, I lost you for a moment." 

"I know I know, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to ruin the moment, I just...I didn't expect all of that, not this quickly, not right now...I...we did the right thing, didn't we?" Louis asked him.

"We did the right thing, we did the only thing we could do, the lads, they were so happy Louis, they were so thankful for you, this isn't something that you did wrong, this is everything that we did right. They'll be back soon, let's shower and go do something fun, okay?" Harry asked him, "It's our last night before 10 straight shows without a manager." Harry realized the weight of the words as he spoke them but didn't let his smile falter as he started the shower for Louis and himself to get in.

"I'll be in a second after you." Harry told Louis as he came back to their bedroom to tell him the shower was ready and Louis kissed him as he made his way down the hall.

Harry pulled his phone out and worked his way down to the I's before selecting a name and hitting dial.

"Irving, it's Harry, I know it's late notice but can you meet me tomorrow?"

"Harry, of course, everything solid?"

"More than solid, I...things might be moving in your direction quicker than we thought." Harry replied.

"I'll get a flight out tonight, pick me up at the airport early? I'll text you the details."

"Thanks man, I owe you." Harry ended the call and sat his phone on the night stand, he ran his fingers slowly though his hair and tried to steady his own breathing this time...tonight, they'd celebrate, and tomorrow Irving would be on the bus with them to their next tour stop, hopefully talking about becoming their new manager.

"What's taking you so long?" Louis yelled down the hall and Harry smiled before running to meet his boyfriend, the weight of everything didn't have to sit on his shoulders, that could come tomorrow...for now Louis was in the shower waiting for him and in that moment, nothing else mattered.


	26. Illusion

"I'm tired, can we go back to the hotel now? We've got the VIP meet before the concert at tomorrow's show, plus I want to relax a bit, today was sort of exhausting." Louis looked at Harry as he asked him with puppy dog eyes.

"Of course Louis, let's tell the lads goodbye and we'll head out, okay?" 

Louis and Harry stood up and walked to the dance floor again, signaling for Liam, Zayn, and Niall to come over to them for a moment.

"We're going to head out. Louis is tired and I'd fancy a good night's sleep too, tomorrow's a busy day, we've got the VIP meet before the show and I have some things I need to take care of in the morning."

"We probably won't stay much longer either lads, just a few more songs." Niall told them as he wrapped his arms around Louis and Harry, Liam and Zayn did the same before they waved goodbye and got back to the dance floor.

"I'll carry you once we get to the hotel." Harry looked at Louis and smiled.

" 'm not a baby." Louis mumbled, a little drunk, a lot tired.

"You're my baby." Harry winked as he put his arm around Louis and walked them outside to meet the car Alberto had been waiting in.

"Calling it a night early?" He asked as Harry and Louis got in the car.

"Gonna be a long day tomorrow, and while I've got you here, do you mind driving me to the airport early tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"Of course, what time?"

"7 am." Harry told him.

"Make it 6:30 so we can stop for coffee?" Alberto asked and Harry nodded, smiling, before pulling Louis in close and feeling the older boy collapse into his embrace. 

The drive to the hotel was short and Harry got out and did as he promised, carrying Louis up to the building, only sitting him down to open the door before hoisting him back up and walking towards the elevators. Louis didn't put up a fight, just sighed and grinned as he felt the strength of Harry holding him up. Once they got to the elevator however, his attitude changed. Louis moved just right so Harry ended up dropping him, but Louis landed on his feet, he grinned up at Harry before he brought a hand to Harry's chest and pushed him roughly against the elevator wall.

"Not the least bit tired." Louis told Harry. "Just wanted you, wanted to get you alone, bite into your skin until you're begging for it. Move my mouth slowly down your chest, taking your nipple in between my lips, flicking it, biting down at it, before moving on to the next one. My hands at your hips, pressing fingers deep into your skin, leaving bruises you'll have for days. Wanted to see the way your curls look wrapped around my hand as I pull your hair back and bite into your neck while you cry out my name when you come." 

Harry groaned and felt his knees start to go weak beneath him but Louis just thrust against him harder and Harry was back up.

"Want to fuck you so hard." Louis whispered as the elevator doors opened and he was pulling Harry towards their room. Harry was fidgeting in his pocket, trying hard to find the room key before they got to the door, as he did he slid it in the handle and the red light flickered green, allowing them entrance into the room.

Harry walked in and Louis shut the door behind them.

"Strip for me." Louis told him as he sat down on the love seat, turning the lights on just enough to give the room a sultry glow.

Harry nodded and swallowed hard before he began to bring his hands up to his chest, running his fingers down the exposed skin due to the way he only attached the bottom buttons on his shirt. Within seconds it was off, falling gently to the floor and he swayed his hips before he brought his hands down to the top button on his tight black jeans...the ones with the tear in the knee that Louis loved because he knew why it got so big. He worked them slowly down his legs, taking longer than he usually would, wanting to tease Louis...work him up good and well before Louis would undoubtedly tear into him...and Harry couldn't wait.

"No one likes a tease." Louis choked as he tried to speak.

"On the contrary, I think you do...daddy." Harry told him with a wink. "As a matter of fact I think me taking so long is driving you a little mad, working you up, you know how I want it, so you're going to let me tease you, let me work these jeans so slowly down my legs that you're ready to tear me apart, then you're going to pull me to the bed and wreck me...so yes, Lou-is...I think someone especially loves a tease." 

"Fuck."

Harry just grinned as he took his shoes off slowly and pulled his pants down over his feet, he was standing now in front of Louis, naked sans a his tattoos and a few love bites Louis left into his neck when Harry fucked him the night before. Harry felt Louis' eyes raking over his body and he took a deep breath as he dropped down to his knees, waiting for Louis to come towards him. Louis stood up, taking a breath himself, and steadied himself before making his way to Harry.

"You look so beautiful princess, so fucking pretty for me." Louis told Harry as he brought his hand under Harry's chin and raised his head so their eyes met.

"May I?" Harry asked, bringing his hands to Louis' jeans.

"Yes sweetie." Louis let out before bringing his bottom lip in between his teeth as Harry unbuttoned the clasp at the top and slowly worked the zipper down so he could peel the jeans off of Louis' hips, work them down his delicious thighs. Harry was shocked when he did this and realized Louis wasn't wearing briefs underneath.

"Wanted this all night princess." Louis told Harry as he smiled.

Harry just got to work, wasting no time as he kissed the head of Louis' cock, running his tongue around the slit, up and down his length before wrapping his lips around it and taking Louis in, he bobbed his head forward and back, letting Louis slide down to hit the back of his throat before he pulled off and looked at Louis with needy eyes.

"Fuck my throat daddy, don't care that we have a show tomorrow, want you to fuck my mouth so hard." Harry let out breathlessly.

Louis felt his entire body shake before he moved his hands to Harry's hair and began using it as leverage to fuck Harry's face, hard. Harry was moaning every single time Louis pressed in harder, moving down his throat and Harry spit leaking out of the side of his mouth. Louis was close and he wanted to come now but he was actually a bit more exhausted than he let on and he still wanted to fuck Harry so he pulled back, falling out of Harry's mouth, and helped the younger boy stand up.

"Bed, now." Louis spoke.

"Yes sir." Harry replied as he walked to the bedroom and laid on his belly as soon as he found the bed. He put his ass up in the air and Louis made his way there a few seconds later, having had to stop to work his pants the rest of the way down his legs.

"Fuck, Harry, your ass is incredible." Louis told him as he climbed onto the bed, working his hands into Harry's skin, spreading him apart so he could see Harry's hole, clenched shut; waiting for Louis to enter him.

"Don't wanna wait, need to feel you." Harry told him as he turned his head and grabbed at Louis' hand, bringing it to his mouth, sucking his fingers until they were dripping wet. Harry released his grasp and Louis brought his hand back towards Harry's ass as he pushed it up into the air again. 

Louis teased him first, pressing against his hole but never inside, not yet...wanting to hear Harry beg for it.

"Daddy please." came a few seconds later and Louis pressed one finger deep inside, causing Harry to moan, and not long after Louis added two, then three, knowing how bad they both wanted it, not taking the time he usually did, knowing Harry had a bit of a thing for the pain anyway.

Louis pulled all three fingers out and Harry groaned at the absence but was excited knowing that he'd be feeling Louis next, and he heard Louis spit into his hand before slicking up his member and pressing against Harry.

"Gonna be good for me, baby?" Louis asked as he bent over to whisper in Harry's ear.

"So good. So good for you." Harry told him as he felt Louis press inside and bottom out immediately, letting Harry feel the sting.

Harry collapsed onto the bed for a moment, the pleasure too strong, but he forced himself back up and the angle change let Louis hit Harry's prostate without meaning to...he screamed out Louis' name the second it happened and Louis felt Harry tense up around him.

"So close already baby, so close for me, aren't you?" Louis asked.

"Yes daddy, so close, so close." Harry let out.

"Gonna make this good." Louis promised as he pulled out and slammed back into Harry, over and over until he had a steady, painful rhythm built up and it was tearing Harry apart. 

Harry was fucking begging for it, between his moans and sighs all he could say was fuckmedaddy and harderpleaseharder and Louis wondered if he realized how hard he was already going, but when Harry asked Louis couldn't say no, so he slammed his hips in harder and harder and he was sure Harry would give out but he didn't, he kept himself upright and there was nothing in the room except for the way he was screaming Louis' name.

"Gonna come." Harry let out as he allowed his face to drop and rest against the pillow.

"Do it, so beautiful, come for me baby, come." Louis told him as he fucked him into an orgasm, Harry came all over the sheets and Louis was relentlessly fucking into him, chasing his own release. Harry brought his head up and looked back at Louis.

"Thank you, daddy." Harry said and Louis felt himself come hard inside of Harry, the angelic way he thanked him was too much for him to handle.

Louis collapsed on top of Harry and they both let out sighs as their heart rates slowed and they came back down.

"Needed that." Harry whispered as Louis pulled out and curled around behind him. "Been too long."

Louis giggled a bit, knowing he had been selfish, the last number of times they fucked it was Harry tearing Louis apart, and Louis knew how much Harry needed it too.

"Me too baby, needed to watch you fall apart like that." Louis told him and they fell asleep, not bothering to shower first.

 

Harry's alarm set off at 5:50 and he moaned as he shut it off quickly, not wanting it to wake Louis up. He kissed Louis' head before bringing the blanket up around him and grabbing his clothes to walk down the hall. Harry turned the shower on and let the water wash over him, cleaning him and relaxing him...he could have stayed there all day and avoided anything that wasn't Louis, but he knew it wasn't that easy, that's not the way life worked. He turned the water off after he rinsed the shampoo from his hair and walked out, wrapping a towel around his waist so he could go to the sink and wash his face and brush his teeth. He dried his body and put his clothes on as he made his way to the living room, he looked at his phone, the time was 6:25 so he slid his shoes on and grabbed a quick drink of water before he opened the door, Alberto was making his way down the hall at the exact time so he quietly shut the door behind him and met him half way.

"Ready to go?" Alberto asked.

"Kind of, nervous a bit." Harry replied.

"Wanna talk to me about it?" 

"Going to pick up Irving and Jeff, that's where we're going..."

"I see...and this is happening, like...now?"

"You know?" Harry asked.

"Louis mentioned it to me, thought you may have been working on them already a bit, just in case, looks as if he was right." 

"He was, I mentioned it to everyone but didn't know how soon or whatever it would happen, but after yesterday, I mean...we need management."

"It'll be fine Harry, they're good men, much better company, much better heads on their shoulders." Alberto assured him and Harry smiled as they both got into the car. 

Alberto drove them to the Starbucks drive through and ordered coffee and scones before making their way to the airport, Irving sent Harry a text saying their plane landed 10 minutes early and they'd already grabbed their bags, Harry told him to come out door 3 and Alberto's car would be waiting for them there. Seconds later Alberto was getting out of the car and opening the door for the Azoff's.

"Good to see you." Alberto told the with a smile.

"Same to you, hope to make this a regular thing." Irving smiled as he got into the car behind Jeff.

Harry smiled, not knowing what to say, and Irving just nodded, they all knew why they were here, knew the weight of the situation, and in the moment they were fine just sitting in the silence.

Alberto made his way to the hotel and about 10 minutes into the drive Harry finally spoke.

"I think, I mean...it's totally over, like, they're gone and we..we need management." 

"When you say gone, you mean...contracts broken, everything is totally complete already?" Irving asked, expecting Modest to have put up more of a fight.

"Complete, everything was torn apart yesterday, no remaining ties to them, saw us as more of a liability than anything else anyway so they wasted no time thinking they'd send us into an earlier failure."

"Their loss is our gain, if you still want it, that is." Irving told Harry.

"I do, that's why you're here, wanna ask the boys today, before the show tonight." Harry told them 

"Of course, of course...we'll get a room here and kind of rest until you get everyone together?" Irving asked and Harry nodded as they pulled up to the hotel. Alberto walked around and opened the door for everyone before he ushered them inside.

"See you two soon." Harry told them as he walked to the elevator quickly, knowing he needed to get the boys together immediately.

Harry ran to his room, opened the door and saw that Louis was already up.

"Missed you, you didn't wake me up before you left." Louis whined as he walked up to Harry and fell into his arms.

"Someone's here, two someones...I...I need to get everyone together." 

"Who's here....what's....what's going on?" Louis asked.

"Irving...he flew in, that's where I had Alberto take me."

"Shit, Harry, that's amazing." Louis smiled and kissed his lips. "I"ll go get ready now." Louis shouted as he ran down the hall, rushing into the bathroom and staring the water immediately. Harry hoped the rest of the boys reacted the same way as Louis as he pulled out his phone to call Niall.

"Nialler, can you shower and come to our room?" Harry asked. "I'll order everyone breakfast."

"Fuck it's early, okay Harry. Be there in a few." 

Harry hung up and dialed Liam.

"Liam, I know it's early, but can you and Zayn shower and come out? I need to see you two, it's important." 

"Give me about 20, you know it takes 10 minutes just to wake Zayn up, can we order breakfast?"

"A step ahead of you already. See you soon." Harry said as he hung up. 

He walked to the kitchen, grabbed the menu and the hotel phone, he dialed the number for room service and ordered too many pancakes, waffles, eggs, muffins, and milk...there was bacon and sausage offered too so Harry accepted, he must have requested enough to feed 10 people, but it was alright, they'd have options.

Louis came out of the shower with his soft hair framing his face and he stood up behind Harry, wrapping his arms around him.

"Love you." Louis told him.

"Love you more." Harry smiled as he turned around and pressed a kiss into Louis' lips.

Within 20 minutes; Niall, Liam and Zayn all made their way to Harry and Louis' room, sitting down in various parts of the living room with full plates and still tired eyes.

"What's going on?" Liam finally asked.

"There's someone here to talk to us...figured no day but today right?" Harry spoke.

"Who's it?" Niall asked, stuffing a pancake into his mouth.

"I think I'll let them speak for themselves." Harry said as he walked towards the door at the exact moment he heard the knock. He tensed up a bit before taking a deep breath and shrugging his shoulders and bringing the door open.

"Irving!" Zayn sounded excited as he saw who walked inside, Niall and Liam joined his welcome with big grins as the lads stood up to hug Irving and Jeff as they made their way inside. Louis waited in the kitchen until they all said hello before smiling and giving them a wave, he was making them plates too.

"Hungry?" Louis asked as he sat two plates on their dining room table.

"Absolutely, so good to see you Louis." Irving told him as he embraced Louis, followed by Jeff.

"Good to see you both." Louis smiled.

The lot ate, taking place in small talk until their plates were all clean and the food Harry thought he'd ordered too much of was all the way gone.

"Guess we should talk business lads." Irving began and they nodded, all sitting up and listening intently.

"You know we've all met before, all had small conversations about what you want out of your future. Harry and I have spoken more intensively over the last few months and I think I've worked out something that benefits everyone. Harry knows what I want to do, where I want to take you, and I've written it all down for you here. All you'd have to do is go over it, come to me with questions, and sign, and we'll be your new management...it wouldn't have been this easy if Modest put up a fight, but I like the people at Syco and this won't be an issue there. I'm well respected and I treat my clients well, so people don't hesitate to work with me, I don't say that to be overzealous or to speak upon my own name, I say it in honesty...we can change everything for you, and do it right."

"It's gonna be this easy?" Liam asked.

"It is, for you, for us...I'll have to work out numbers with Syco, talk to Modest once or twice about a few things, but otherwise, it's this easy."

"Can we read over this...now?" Liam asked again.

"Of course, we're quite tired so we'll go back to the room and rest for a few hours but...feel free to call when you need to and we'd love to come to the show tonight." Irving told them as he stood up, Jeff following. 

"We wouldn't have it any other way." Harry told them as he walked them to the door and once goodbyes were said Harry turned to the group and almost felt like he should say sorry.

"Harry, don't..this is great." Louis told him as he kissed his lips, already knowing that Harry looked worried, concerned.

"This is amazing, it really is." Zayn assured him. "I mean, we'll be free...this...this is everything." 

"Guess we should look over this, only got a bit of time now before our meet and greet and the show, right?" Liam asked.

"Only a bit of time." Niall replied and the lads began to look over the paper work, Louis just curled next to Harry, already having heard what their proposals were, and they waited...giving the lads some time to look over what could very well be their future.

"This could really be it." Louis smiled.

"Freedom." Harry spoke before pressing a kiss against Louis' lips.


End file.
